Circuit Court Blocks Dish Injunction

EchoStar won’t have to deactivate digital video recorders running in millions of Dish Network subscriber homes, after the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., granted the company a stay that blocked an injunction issued Thursday by a Texas Court.

The move came a day after TiVo was granted a permanent injunction against EchoStar related to a patent suit it had filed against TiVo in January 2004.

EchoStar was also forced to pay $89.6 million in damages to TiVo under the decision that was handed down by a U.S. District Court in Texas.

While the Texas court ordered EchoStar to stop selling digital video recorders to customers, EchoStar said Friday that the stay granted by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals will allow it to continue selling DVRs.

“We continue to believe the Texas decision was wrong, and should be reversed on appeal. We also continue to work on modifications to our new DVRs, and to our DVRs in the field, intended to avoid future alleged infringement,” EchoStar said in a prepared statement on Friday.

The TiVo ruling impacted EchoStar’s stock on Friday, which was trading at $32 per share at 11:45 a.m., down 75 cents, or 2.29%.