Rich Fiscus
2 Feb 2008 3:13
On Thursday TiVo won a major appeals court battle that may give them more leverage in licensing their software to cable and satellite providers. The ruling, upholding a lower court decision that Dish Network DVRs violate their software patents, may mean that other DVR providers have to either pay up for licensing or work TiVo's product into the DVRs they provide customers.
TiVo is certainly the best known DVR brand among consumers, who often refer to the very act of DVR Capture as 'TiVo-ing' a program. But the company's financial fortunes currently seem tied to their capability to sell cable and satellite television providers their product. They've recently started widescale testing of a port of the TiVo interface to existing Comcast DVRs.
With Thursday's decision, the company appears to be in a strong position to secure partnerships with other DVR providers. Meanwhile Dish DVR customers shouldn't have to worry about the fallout. According to a company spokesman they've already been migrated to software that doesn't violate any TiVo patents.