A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a decision by a lower court that Echostar Communications Corp. to stop selling digital video recorders (DVR), the company announced Aug. 18.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia temporarily blocked an injunction issued Thursday by a U.S. district court judge in Texas that ordered Echostar to halt the use and sale of DVRs that infringed on Tivo Inc.’s patents. The court is considering a longer-term stay of the injunction, Echostar said.

“As a result of the stay Echostar can continue to sell, and provide to consumers, all of its digital video recorder models,” Echostar said in a statement. “We continue to believe the Texas decision was wrong and should be reversed on appeal. We also continue to work on modifications to our new DVRs, and to our DVRs in the field, intended to avoid future alleged infringement.”

In February, a jury in Texas ruled that Echostar infringed on a Tivo patent for DVRs and awarded Tivo more than $73 million to cover lost profits and royalties. Tivo had been seeking a permanent injunction against Echostar over the technology, while an Echostar countersuit is scheduled to begin in February 2007.