Washington - A panel of judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has signaled that it will likely rule at least partially in favor of TiVo in the company's patent infringement case against satellite TV firm EchoStar Communications, the Associated Press reported.

EchoStar is appealing a lower court's finding that ordered the company to pay $89.6 million in damages to TiVo, and disable the three million digital video recorders it has deployed to customers.

Judges in the case this week queried attorneys for TiVo and EchoStar on whether the matter wasn't already settled, given a jury verdict in TiVo's favor, and also asked what was likely to happen if they were to uphold a part of the lower court's decision.

A ruling in favor of TiVo would also likely generate a good deal of new licensing income from its patents.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/3czwt3 (AP)

http://www.echostar.com

http://www.tivo.com