Popular television device company TiVo Inc. on Wednesday filed a patent infringement case against Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Wireless for allegedly copying the DVR technology of the company which includes “pause and rewind” capability on Live TV.
Based on the documents filed by TiVo to the US District Court in Eastern Texas, the company is seeking for an disclosed amount of damages for infringements committed by AT&T and Verizon in the past.
The company also seeks for a permanent injunction against the two companies.
In a statement, TiVo chief executive officer Tom Rogers said that they are losing money by competing with multi-channel operators that also used their patented technology.
He added that some of business talks between them and the other companies did not reach to a conclusion prompting them to file the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, both AT&T and Verizon refused to comment on the cases, saying that they are yet to see the documents.
In a related development, TiVo suffered a major blow from a similar lawsuit filed against Dish Network Corp and its sister company EchoStar Corp. after the US patent and trademark office ordered that the two companies may continue operations, saying that the patent of TiVo’s DVR is still subjected to litigation.
But TiVo lawyers said that they have already filed another petition to the court asking it to deny the request of Dish Corp. to further review the patent of the DVR.
It will be recalled that TiVo filed the lawsuit against Dish in 2004 for allegedly violating the patent law on its DVR technology. The court then ruled in favor of the TiVo ordering Dish to stop the use of the technology.
However, Dish has developed and designed “new” software that was downloaded to the DVR device of the consumers while the case was still on appeal.
TiVo, meanwhile, has filed for a permanent injunction against the company, saying that it has “workaround” the patent of the software.
The court ruled in favor of the DVR manufacturer but Dish has filed an appeal, again.
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