Dish Network can reopen a six-year-old lawsuit against nemesis TiVo after a judge lifted a stay that had been in effect while the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office studied some DVR technologies, the companies said Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed by Dish — when it was still known as EchoStar — in 2005, one year after TiVo filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against EchoStar that it ultimately won, though it still has not been decided whether Dish has been in contempt of a ruling asking that it stop providing DVRs that infringe TiVo’s patents.
As for the 2005 lawsuit, Dish agreed to whittle it down to one patent while the original suit concerned four. The remaining dispute involves a patent that Dish bought from IBM that is related to the way DVRs store recorded content.
“The patent in this case withstood two re-exam petitions by TiVo seeking to invalidate it. We look forward to the trial,” Dish said in a statement Wednesday.
TiVo shares lost 4% Wednesday to $10.44, while Dish shares rose 3% to $22.18.
