A Texas judge has stopped Echostar Communication Corp.’s patent-infringement lawsuit against Tivo Inc. and Humax USA Inc. over digital video recorder (DVR) technology, Tivo announced Aug. 28.

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. An Echostar countersuit has been scheduled to begin in February, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, issued a stay order in July to allow the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to reexamine the patents in question.

“The reexamination requests Tivo submitted to the USPTO detail how a large number of prior art references that the USPTO did not previously consider raise substantial new questions regarding the validity of the claims Echostar asserted and why those claims are invalid,” Tivo said in a statement. “Tivo will continue to defend its technology vigorously and will not be intimidated by claims such as those Echostar asserted against Tivo — claims Echostar asserted in response to Tivo’s successful suit against Echostar.”