Dish Comment on TiVo/DISH Litigation

[Tirconnell]

DISH Network said it plans to fight a federal appeals court ruling handed down Thursday that affirmed the $94 million jury verdict assessed against the satellite TV company in connection with the patent infringement lawsuit pushed by TiVo.

The companies have been tangled in litigation over alleged violations of TiVo's DVR patents by DISH Network's own DVR technology. The decision was a 50/50 proposition for the satellite TV service, with the appeals court ruling for TiVo in its patent infringement case related to alleged violations of the DVR pioneer's software technology, but tossing out the hardware claims made by TiVo in its litigation.

DISH said it was disappointed with the software ruling and "pleased" with the hardware conclusion.

In a statement, TiVo said it was "extremely pleased" with the appeals court ruling, which it said "is confirmation of the value of TiVo's IP portfolio, which is in addition to the other benefits TiVo has to offer."

The company added, "TiVo can now continue to focus on its goal to drive greater distribution in both its stand alone and mass distribution efforts."

DISH Network said the court decision won't impact current or future DVR customers since engineers have developed and deployed new software to customer DVRs. "This improved software is fully operational, has been automatically downloaded to current customers, and does not infringe the TiVo patent at issue in the Federal Circuit's ruling," the company said.

"All DISH Network customers can continue to use their DVRs without any interruption or changes to the award-winning DVR features and services provided by DISH Network," the DBS service added.