April 18, 2006
Posted by
Mark Reichel
/ 6:10 AM /
Last Thursday, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, awarded $73.9 million in damages to TiVo Inc. after finding that EchoStar Communications Corp. infringed one of TiVo’s patents (U.S. Patent No. 6,233,389, “Multimedia Time Warping System”). After the two week trial, the jury determined that EchoStar had willfully infringed TiVo’s patent regarding digital video recorder (DVR) technology, known by the public as being able to “pause” live television. This finding of willful infringement could potentially triple the award to almost $240 million. TiVo had sought $87 million in damages in its complaint filed in January, 2004, a figure calculated representing the amount TiVo would have allegedly earned had EchoStar not sold approximately 4 million DVRs utilizing the technology claimed by TiVo to be infringing its patent. EchoStar is commonly known by its Dish Network brand and satellite television and internet services. According to its press release, TiVo intends to pursue a permanent injunction against EchoStar regarding EchoStar’s DVR product line.
U.S. Patent No. 6,233,389: LINK
TiVo Press Release: LINK
Yahoo! News Article: LINK
Bloomberg.com News Article: LINK
U.S. Patent No. 6,233,389: LINK
TiVo Press Release: LINK
Yahoo! News Article: LINK
Bloomberg.com News Article: LINK
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