TiVo Patent Victory Over Dish Network Upheld

Thomas Hawk writes "An appeals court today shot down Dish Network's last chance to avoid a multi-million lawsuit verdict won by TiVo over their time shifting DVR technology. In addition to having to pay TiVo a minimum of $92 million, Dish Network will also now have to honor a court injunction to turn off DVR software to most of their customers. I hope Dish Network customers like commercials with their daily dose of Dr. Phil."

Comments

The shit's going to hit the fan

[JonTurner]

Americans are a complacent lot. They'll tolerate taxes and fee increases, regulation, government snooping, abridgement of century-old (and God given) rights, etc. with maybe one in ten thousand even bothering to pick up a telephone or a pen and contact their congressman or senator.

But if you fuck with their television, you'll see angry roving mobs take to the streets that make "21 days later" look like a tea party. I suspect this will not end well.

Re:The shit's going to hit the fan

[multisync]

Alternative to Blu-Ray - DVD (which has laughable DRM)

It's DRM none the less, and it is (if I'm not mistaken) a felony to circumvent that DRM in the US. Also, how many VHS tapes are available for rent or sale at your local video store? Watch as studios slowly squeeze out the DVD and force those pesky "consumers" to "upgrade" to Blue-Ray.

Alternative to iTunes - DRM-free MP3 download(amazon, etc), CDs that are not protected(harder to tell)

Sure, if you live in the US. Amazon does not sell MP3 downloads to foreign countries. I've read about other services, but none that I have seen offer either the convenience, price and selection of iTunes. If anyone can recommend an alternative that doesn't require me to pay a monthly fee (I prefer ala carte, thank you) and offers a decent selection outside of the US, I'd love to hear about it.

You are correct about CDs, and I encourage people to continue to buy them for the superior (to iTunes, anyway) audio quality and for the peace of mind that you can rip 'em, put them in a plastic storage bin in the basement and they will likely still be available to be re-ripped if necessary in the future. Until, that is, drives that are able to play CDs become as scarce as drives that can read 5-1/4 floppies.

(btw, I still have my old Akai turntable and every vinyl album I ever bought, but most suffered irreparable damage at the hands of a dumb-ass teenager who didn't appreciate how precious his music collection would be to him in his old age).

Re:The shit's going to hit the fan

[deblau]

But if you fuck with their television, you'll see angry roving mobs take to the streets that make "21 days later" look like a tea party.

I live in Boston. We can get pretty angry at our tea parties.

I tried

[OMNIpotusCOM]

I was trying to think of something really witty to say, something that would totally make the parent rethink their post and question their whole thought structure on Americans... but all I could come up with was this Family Guy quote:

"Who touched the thermostat?" ...how sad is that?

Re:Its not going away

[rajafarian]

Pet peeve - you infringe somebody's patent - not violate it.

Yeah but violating it sounds funnier.

Re:Responses

[vtcodger]

***Since they did the f*cking thing has failed to record the shows I want to watch about half the time.***

I'm pretty sure that someone -- Verizon? Microsoft? -- has a patent on not doing what is requested about half the time. Another patent infringement? Dish's patent problems may not be over.

Re:Die, TiVo

[Achromatic1978]

OMG! The "8 second jump back"! What an amazing, novel concept! Hold us back, lest we froth at the mouth at this momentous innovation!

Ye gods. I'm beginning to think TiVo broadcasts subliminal messages.