Posted on 05/03/2011 2:30:14 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
Washington, D.C. (May 2, 2011) -- Dish Network has agreed to pay TiVo $500 million to settle a seven-year DVR patent lawsuit that has threaten to inflict substantial damage on both companies over the years.
The companies made the disclosure this morning. The settlement calls for Dish to pay TiVo $300 million at first and then another $200 million in six annual installments between 2012 and 2017.
The announcement ends the legal dispute once and for all. TiVo originally sued Dish and its sister company, EchoStar, back in 2004, charging a patent violation for its 'Time Warp' feature which allows the recording of one show while watching another.
Dish has maintained that any patent infraction occurred on older DVRs, but the company was in danger of being ordered to disable an untold number of DVRs if it lost the case in court.
The announcement also said the parties would be granted certain patent licenses to each other. TiVo has granted Dish Network a license under its 'Time Warp' patent and other patents for the remaining life of those patents.
Swanni Sez: Commentary: While paying $500 million is hardly a drop in the bucket, even over several years, Dish Network would seem to be the winner today. The company has been facing the possibility of paying much more -- and being ordered to disable perhaps millions of its DVRs. To walk away from this sticky case by initially paying basically what it paid to buy the bankrupt Blockbuster is a clear victory.
Great news! My Tivo service won’t die, at least for a while. It is a great box and service — just love it.
Never figured out how to work that thing...
Just like the old VCR blinking 12:00 for the last few decades. Some things are just not worth the effort.
Great news thanks for the update!
We love Dish and were concerned about what this would do to our DVR service. Dish’s DVR is so much easier to use than DirectTV.
Time for everyone to move on...
So you pay an extra monthly subscription fee for TiVo yet you can't figure out how to click one button to record a show? FReerepublic is infinitely more complicated to navigate. I'm so accustomed to NOT watching commercials I can't watch with out it. How on earth do you know how to turn on your TV period? Yes it's that simple...
I think I am over 30 season passes on my TiVo. Set it and forget it. The only commercials I watch are promos and trailers.
I can hardly stand to watch a commercial anymore, when it’s not recorded during commercials I unconsciously grab the remote pressing the “skip” button . Except for the Super Bowl of course.
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