United Video Properties Nabs TV Playlist Patent

spinozaq writes "It seems that an organization called 'United Video Properties, Inc.' has been granted patent #6,748,596, titled 'Program guide system for recording television programs.' IANAPL, but this document seems to cover too much ground, talking about pay programs and PIN numbers for parental controls. Maybe they'll sue TiVo, oh hurray."

Comments

TiVo is not prior art...

[cft_128]

I don't think TiVo could be considered prior art. The cited patent refers to patent 6,141,488 from September 5, 1997 that seems to cover a lot of what is at issue. TiVo itself was founded in 1997 as well, so no good news there. Not to sure about that VCR+Gold stuff that some RCA appliances had, I have no idea how old that is and all of its capabilities are but I believe it has electronic schedule distribution with some sort of interactive guide for choosing what programs to record.

IANAL but I seem to recall someone else mentioning if a patent was not enforced for 6 years (e.g. a company let others infringe on their patents for more than 6 years) then some sort of statute of limitations has passed...this seems to back up my memory. That implies that TiVo might be off the hook unless the lawsuit has already been filed or they have licensed it already.