TiVo Versus DISH: Is TiVo Trying to Steal DISH Network Subscribers?

Posted Aug 19, 2006 at 5:39PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Tags: DVR, gaming accessories

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"TiVo better not come in here to take my DISH DVR away!" That's what some DISH subscribers are saying, and we wonder where this will all end.

If you haven't heard, TiVo and DISH have been dishing it out in court for a long time. A court ruling in Texas earlier this year said that DISH stole a patent of TiVo when DISH made its DVRs (DVR or PVR = "Digital Video Recorder" or "Personal Video Recorder"). But a Washington DC court gave DISH a moment to relax: the court is thinking about reversing the Texas decision.

Here's what TiVo has to say on their website:

1. If DISH customers lose DVR services, that's "entirely and directly" the fault of DISH because DISH infringed on TiVo's patent.
2. "DISH customers who want to ensure uninterrupted DVR service can get DVR products and services from TiVo and its partners."
   

Some online readers are already asking: "Does that last part mean TiVo's trying to steal DISH Network subscribers?" Well, all we know for sure is what it says on TiVo's website:

1. TiVo had no choice except to protect its inventions in federal court.
2. Last April 2006, DISH's DVR products were found by a jury to be infringing one of TiVo's patents.

What's the DISH Network's side of the story? The announcement on the DISH website has the following statement from August 18 after the latest round in the TiVo vs. DISH (EchoStar) lawsuit:

1. DISH believes the Texas court decision will be reversed eventually.
2. DISH is modifying their DVRs to avoid future accusations of stealing patents.

So we wait and see what the court will say. And some of us are thinking it's strange that this court drama should happen during the same time that the MythTV project is taking off (MythTV is an open source application for Linux that lets a computer function as a TiVo alternative).

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