Patent Office Grants EchoStar, Dish Request To Look at Tivo Claims

[Satellite Today 01-15-09] The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted EchoStar and Dish Network’s request to reexamine the claims of TiVo’s Time Warp patent.
    “We are pleased that the [Patent Office] granted our petition for reexamination of the software claims of TiVo’s ‘389 patent, which are the subject of TiVo’s current motion for contempt,” Dish Network said in a statement. “The [Patent Office] found that there is a ‘substantial new questio’’ of patentability as to the software claims in light of prior patents that appear to render TiVo’s ‘389 patent invalid as obvious.”
    In October, TiVo won $104.6 million in damages from EchoStar over the patent of its DVR functionality. TiVo also won a U.S. District Court-enforced injunction, which recently has stalled.
    “EchoStar’s latest tactic follows numerous failed attempts to invalidate TiVo’s groundbreaking Time Warp patent,” TiVo said in its statement. “EchoStar’s latest request for reexamination is based on a combination of two prior art references that were both already submitted to the [Patent Office] in connection with the earlier reexamination. The [Patent Office] grants most patent reexamination requests. Contrary to EchoStar’s statement, the [Patent Office] made no substantive findings. We are confident that the [Patent Office] will once again confirm the validity of all of the claims of the Time Warp patent.”