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TiVo sues EchoStar for Patent Infringement

Posted by michael on from the there-can-be-only-one dept.

jhkoh writes "TiVo has filed a lawsuit against satellite TV provider EchoStar for infringing on its 'Time Warp' patent for DVR time-shifting. TiVo CEO Mike Ramsay adds: 'Our aim here is not to litigate everybody ... but to further advance and seek commercial relationships so that people recognize the value of our intellectual property, and give us fair compensation.'"

5 of 476 comments (clear)

  1. Uh oh? by MrPerfekt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So does this mean they'll be taking a SCO approach and be going after whomever inherited ReplayTV and other companies with DVR's on the market? Or even those OSS apps that make your Linux box into a DVR?

    It's a shame because I like Tivo alot but saying you're not wanting to litigate people while suing them seems kinda silly.

    --
    I just wasted your mod points! HA!
  2. *sigh* by irokitt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's about time Slashdot picked up on this. So does this make Tivo a bad guy now? Probably more important though is the effect this might have on the open source time-shifting software out there.

    --
    If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
  3. Echostar is Microsoft Junior by Tacoguy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hi and color me biased but Charlie Ergen and Echostar built my business only to tear it apart. I was a C-Band dealer for years (Echostar was primary wholsaler) and had a great business only to see them introduce "Dish" that was not available to the dealers that had made them a success.

    I have seen the tactics of Ergen purchasing companies and assimilating technology and in some cases reverse engineering IE:Polaroter

    Go Go TiVo !!


    TG

  4. Nonsense by dachshund · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This does not mean that they'll be going after every DVR producer, only those who copied TiVo without adding any thought of their own.

    So Tivo has patented the idea of recording television using a) a bunch of video codecs they didn't invent, b) a bunch of commodity hardware they didn't invent, and c) the brilliant invention of rewind, fast-forward and get this... pause.

    There are many original and non-obvious aspects to the Tivo design. The ability to record television, and (!!!) play it back at the same time, do not count. Give Tivo this one, within five years they'll be claiming patent infringement against anyone who records TV onto a hard-disk.

    Incidentally, I remember back when Tivo obtained this patent. A bunch of Slashdot commenters-- with a "RTF(Patent)" attitude similar to yours-- made no effort to conceal their contempt for those of us who thought the patent might affect similar (but non-identical) implementations. IIRC, they made a big deal over the precise details in the claims, and how you would have to infringe upon all of those things to merit a lawsuit. Looks like things aren't quite so rosy.

  5. Re:In other news... by dgrgich · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Please - not another 'Tivo is just a VCR' Luddite. :) Tivo's patents (specifically 6,233,389) uniquely describe a process that they were first to bring to market. For example, the patent I cite describes pretty much the entire Tivo experience. It describes using MPEG2 technology to replace the tape mechanism in a VCR. They were the first to patent this and the first to truly bring it to market. They beat Replay devices to the mainstream market and put a friendly face on what is a slightly tricky technology to describe to non-Tivo experienced folks who don't "get it". My wife was incensed when I bought our first Tivo because she thought it was "just a fancy VCR" - now you'd have to pry it out of her cold dead hands!