TiVo's win over Dish reversed before major hearing
updated 12:25 pm EDT, Fri May 14, 2010
TiVo must face new hearing in Dish lawsuit
TiVo faced a major setback on Friday as a US Federal Court of Appeals nullified the DVR producer's recent win over Dish. The decision cancels out as much as $300 million in awards after Dish and its sibling company EchoStar were found in contempt of a ban on shipping products that allegedly violate TiVo's patents. Officials said the issue was important enough to merit an en banc hearing, which will have all judges in the appeals court decide on whether or not to overturn the verdict.
The decision complicates an already long legal process that began with TiVo originally suing EchoStar in 2004. Both Dish and EchoStar have regularly opposed the cases but haven't had success in court. They have still said that they will agree to redesign their DVRs to work around TiVo's patents should TiVo ultimately win in court.
