TiVo strikes back against Motorola in patent suit
TiVo files counter suit against Motorola and its customer, Time Warner Cable, in patent infringement case over DVR boxes.
The week is just getting started, and we already have a new patent infringement lawsuit on our hands.
The twist this time is that it is a counter suit from TiVo against both Motorola and Time Warner Cable.
A little over a year ago, Motorola filed a lawsuit against TiVo over patent infringement related to digital video recorders -- some of which focused on patents stemming from as far back as the 1990s.
Now, TiVo has filed counterclaims with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Motorola and Time Warner Cable (one of Motorola's customers) infringed upon the following U.S. patents owned by TiVo:
• 6,233,389: A multimedia time-warping system for storing select TV programs while the user is simultaneously watching or reviewing another program.
• 7,529,465: Another multimedia time-warping system in which TV streams are converted in to MPEG formats and then later decoded to TV output signals and receivers.
• 6,792,195: A method and apparatus for implementing random access and time-based functions on a continuous stream of formatted digital data.
Elements of these patents might seem very typical for any DVR box, whether it be from TiVo, Dish Network, or one of the defendants in this suit. Nevertheless, there are always finer, particular details within the patent descriptions that can make or break a suit.
Thus, much like what we've seen with Apple and its Android-based opponents (i.e. Samsung, HTC, etc.) over tablet and smartphone patents, we'll likely see a lot more of this case between TiVo and Motorola drawn out for awhile.
This story was originally published as "TiVo files counter suit against Motorola, Time Warner" at ZDNet's Between the Lines.