August 18, 2006 5:21 AM PDT
Judge to EchoStar: Disable your DVRs
Last modified: August 18, 2006 1:13 AM PDT
- Related Stories
-
TiVo, EchoStar both claim victory in patent ruling
May 24, 2006 -
TiVo links with Brightcove as PC-TV lines blur
May 9, 2006 -
TiVo scores patent win against EchoStar
April 13, 2006 -
TiVo and DirecTV extend contract
April 12, 2006 -
EchoStar sues TiVo, Humax over patents
May 5, 2005 -
TiVo beefs up patent portfolio
April 6, 2005 -
TiVo, EchoStar patent infringement case advances
March 9, 2005 -
TiVo records new DVR patents
March 1, 2005 -
TiVo cuts prices on flagship recorders
February 2, 2004 -
TiVo sues EchoStar over DVR patent
January 5, 2004 -
Industry ponders impact of TiVo patent
May 25, 2001
update
But federal appeals court blocks TiVo-favored injunction affecting millions of Dish subscribers.
The story "Judge to EchoStar: Disable your DVRs" published August 18, 2006 at 5:21 AM is no longer available on CNET News.com.
Content from Reuters expires after 30 days.
It can't be that anyone is actually trying to copy TIVO's UI menu system because why would anyone copy crap?
where I totally agree with the outcome. TiVo came up with a
great idea that revolutionized how we watch TV, and instead of
just sitting on it, waiting to sue the first big company to
implement it, they actually created a brilliantly implemented
product and a market for it.
We all like to complain when someone with a patent, that never
even attempted to bring a product to market, comes out of the
woodwork after 10 years and sues some hugely successful
manufacturer. But in this case, TiVo took their idea and ran with
it. They are totally on the high road when it comes to defending
their efforts.
And by the way, unless there is a VCR out there that can
continue to tape a show while you pause or rewind it, the
analogies with VCRs are completely without merit.
you can see that they are just taking the VCR and adding the word DIGITAL.
using a hard drive instead of tape is obvious to any worker in the field.
there is NOTHING NEW OR UNIQUE to this invention, its merely an example of how the patent system is abused.
EchoStar needs to examine expired VCR patents. The only innovation is simultaneous playback while recording, which the patent concedes can easily be accomplished by using two VCR's.
It may be possible for echostar to disable "simultaneous playback and recording" to circumvent the injunction while they prepare their case to invalidate the TIVO patents.
this becomes a moot point next year as WINDOWS VISTA will begin replacing embedded hardware solutions.
And so lame companies unable to compete in the marketplace (despite apparently having the "idea" first) continue to exist despite their inability to provide something compelling enough for people to buy it.
Between ReplayTV and DishNetwork, AND geeks doing the same thing with ATI video cards on their PC's, 'prior art' definitely existed for digital storage and playback and pausing of TV.
Dish's DVRs break down so often I would dare so not too many are actually fully functional anyway!
We had Dish dvr and TiVo, and TiVo worked for 3 years with ZERO problems. Went to dish and their DVR, replaced 2 in the first 9 months.
bye bye Dish!
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/aboutus/presskit/press/index.shtml
I hope Dish is right and that they win this thing in the end -- I'd much rather record the way their system does it (directly from the digital feed from the dish, rather than converting it to analog and then back to digital again). Their system is pretty slick, and is cheaper than Tivo (and different enough in its guts that it should be able to avoid their patent).
Not only that, but Dish actually cares about its customers a lot more than Tivo seems to care about any of its customers. Has the fact that Tivo couldn't give away their boxes, but had to license or arm-twist DirectTV and cable companies into licensing their software given anybody a clue yet? Then they go tinkering with the skip button and showing ads while you're fast-forwarding...very intrusive. No thanks. Dish is better!
- Ya'll should read the proceedings from April
-
by datacowboy
August 18, 2006 8:37 PM PDT
- TiVo won the original patent dispute back in April for some key reasons. Today's news is just a follow-on from that.
-
Reply to this comment
-
-
See all 33 Comments >>The thing is that E* was working with another company on DVR technology around the same time TiVo was introduced. The difference was that the technology behind the E* product cost around $15,000! And their only customer for the product was the US Military.
James Barton invented what is now called the Barton media switch as part of the TiVo device and this technology was much, much less expensive. Within the range of consumers.
Then Barton and Ramsey went to E* to peddle their technology and hopefully enter into a partnership. Much like they later did with DirecTV. They left behind a prototype, which E* never returned, and a short time later out came the first DishPlayer. Amazingly within the price range of consumers, or part of a monthly service fee. E* plowed ahead without further discussion with TiVo.
Whether you debate the validity of the TiVo time warp patent does not matter, that argument is over. They have the patent. And from the court proceedings in April, E* could not distance their DVR from infringement. And the history of things didn't help them either.
It's all public record, you can check for yourself.