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U.S. Patent Office Invalidates Key TiVo Patent

Jun 9, 2010  •  Post A Comment

"The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has ruled that TiVo’s ‘Time Warp’ DVR patent — which is at the heart of the company’s years-long litigation against Dish Network and EchoStar — is invalid in light of two prior-art references," reports Todd Spangler over at  Multichannel News.

Saying in a statement that the Patent’s office (PTO)  is "separate and apart" from the litigation, TiVo downplayed the decison, the report said. TiVo’s statement also said, "We will continue to work with the PTO to explain the validity of the claims under review," the DVR company said Tuesday. "It is important to note that TiVo received a ‘final action’ holding several claims invalid during EchoStar’s first reexamination request at this juncture only to have the PTO ultimately uphold the validity of all claims of the patent."

According to the article, "Dish Network and EchoStar Technologies in a joint statement said, ‘We are pleased the Patent and Trademark Office issued a Final Office Action maintaining its rejection of the software claims of TiVo’s patent. These software claims are the same claims that EchoStar was found to have infringed in the contempt ruling now pending for en banc review by the Federal Circuit.’ "

"TiVo can appeal the decision to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, and, if that fails, can appeal the matter through the federal court system," the article said.  

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