TiVo Dealt Setback Over Time Warp Patent

By Geoff Duncan
August 05, 2009

TiVo's time-warp patent is at the heart of its DVR technology and a lucrative infringement suit against Echostar...and there's just been a preliminary ruling rejecting the patent as invalid.

DVR pioneer TiVo has been engaged in a long-running patent dispute with Echostar, in which Echostar has been found guilty of infringing on TiVo's so-called "time warp" patent for time-shifting broadcast content. Although infringing Dish Network DVRs are still functioning found to be valid and enforceable back in late 2007.

Now, Echostar might just have a glimmer of hope: in a re-examination process prompted by Echostar's appeal, the U.S Patent and Trademark Office has issued a preliminary rejection of TiVo's time warp patent (6,233,389), owing to two prior patents involving similar technology. Dish Network wasted no time hailing the decision:

"These software claims are the same claims that EchoStar was found to have infringed in the ...

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