TiVo: Patent Office Finding Won't Affect EchoStar Dispute

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 4, 2009 - 7:45am.

Alviso, Calif. - TiVo (NASD: TIVO) announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a preliminary finding rejecting two of the claims in its fundamental "time warp" digital video recorder patent, but said the finding will not affect its ongoing patent dispute with rival EchoStar (NASD: SATS).

"The Office action is a preliminary finding, entered in the normal course before TiVo has had any opportunity to present its views," TiVo said in a statement.

"This is an initial step in the lengthy process known as 'reexamination,' and it is not unusual for the PTO to provide a preliminary finding of invalidity and to then later find that the claims are valid after hearing an explanation from the patent owner."

In June, a federal court found EchoStar in contempt of a preliminary injunction that said the company was infringing TiVo's patents, and ordered the company to pay TiVo $103 million in damages.

That ruling is currently under appeal.

TiVo said it "believes that the PTO's preliminary finding will not affect EchoStar's appeal of the June 2009 ruling by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas finding EchoStar to be in contempt of court."

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/op12q

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10302767-17.html

http://snipurl.com/op10d (DMW previous coverage)

http://www.tivo.com