On Thursday the United States District Court of Texas set a date for a bench hearing to decide of EchoStar and DISH Network’s software workaround makes their DVRs non-infringing to TiVo’s patents, as well as if they’re in contempt of the court’s injunction and if more damages are owed to TiVo, on top of the $104.6 million already awarded. The bench trial will take place February 17, 2009.
After the announcement, EchoStar and DISH Network issued this statement:
“We are pleased that the district court did not find us in contempt on the face of the injunction. We look forward to the February bench trial on our software design-around. Our subscribers can continue using their award-winning DVRs from DISH Network.”
TiVo responded with a statement of their own:
“We are pleased that the U.S. District Court has scheduled a hearing on EchoStar’s purported workaround on February 17, 2009. Contrary To EchoStar’s statement today, the Court did not rule on TiVo’s pending motion for contempt of the injunction. The Court will do so after the hearing as well as rule on the amount of damages owed to TiVo beyond the nearly $105 million already paid by EchoStar. This is a positive step, particularly the accelerated discovery ordered by the Court, towards the ultimate resolution of all issues in the litigation and we remain confident that we will prevail in showing that EchoStar’s workaround does not avoid infringement.”
So more jousting on both sides. Now we stay tuned until February.
UPDATE: TiVo issued a revised statement today, note the difference:
“We are pleased that the U.S. District Court has scheduled a hearing on EchoStar’s purported workaround on February 17, 2009. Contrary to EchoStar’s statement yesterday, the Court did not rule on TiVo’s pending motion for contempt of the injunction. The Court will do so after the hearing as well as rule on the amount of damages owed to TiVo (which EchoStar admitted at the September 4, 2008 hearing are owed) beyond the nearly $105 million already paid by EchoStar. This is a positive step, particularly the accelerated discovery ordered by the Court, towards the ultimate resolution of all issues in the litigation and we remain confident that we will prevail in showing that EchoStar’s workaround does not avoid infringement.”
Disclaimer: I work for Sling Media, which is owned by EchoStar.
