TiVo files patent infringement lawsuits against AT&T and Verizon
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There probably won't be much in the way of expenses early on. If there is no "final" action from the PTO invalidating the patent fairly early, the judge will probably not postpone the trial pending TiVo's patent invalidation appeals which could take ten years. Judge Spencer refused to delay proceedings in the Blackberry lawsuit for that very reason. He didn't want to wait ten years to get it resolved.
It's probably worth noting that patent doesn't necessarily cover just the way TiVo does it. A patent can cover several methods. TiVo has two different patents on overshoot correction:
Automatic playback overshoot correction system (7,493,015)
Automatic playback overshoot correction system (6,850,691)
I briefly scanned the contents of the first (linked above) and it discusses three methods. The last method sounds to me like it would cover Verizon's implementation.
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Don't you think spending hundreds of dollars an hour getting knocked around in court might be burning through the money?
Hundreds? Don't you think Morgan Chu et al are more in the thousands per hour for the whole team?
I looks like Verizon got the 'B' team with a new litigator and AT&T got the 'A' team with Irell & Manella (Morgan Chu, etc).
The AT&T DVR runs Microsoft's STB DVR software, so that isn't entirely surprising.
Is there any online repository for all the court eFiled documents, motions, appearances, etc. in this case?
Please don't treat Verizon like they are innocent. They where suing people left and right over VOIP patents.
I still say the old Grass Valley/Tektronic's Profile systems for Broadcast beat Tivo at this. They have software that can automatically record at a given time, can playback while recording shows and can playback a recording 2 seconds after it starts a recording. Pause, rewind and start. In my book, based on dates of release, TIVO stole the Tektronics patents.
TiVo patented particular methods, not the entire concept of DVRs. Ideas can't be patented, methods and processes can be patented.
TiVo's applications do describe prior art and how their patent differs from earlier DVR patents:
That's the core of their "invention." It's applicable to DVRs with low-cost, low-performance embedded CPUs that implement the method. It may not be applicable to PC applications.
The two key patents for simultaneous recording and playback on high-performance processors expire in 2011 and 2012, respectively. At that point, there may not be anything stopping a company from building a DVR based on say, an Intel CPU with integrated graphics. I bet it could be done today at a $100 premium to existing DVRs, using a dual-core Intel Atom CPU and Nvidia's ION graphics.
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The problem with Ken F's rationalization is that what was once the domain of primitive central processors is now handled by dedicated processors that can decode at rates much higher than most encoders can fit the content in the available bandwidth. The other advantage that modern equipment has is that its content comes to it pre-encoded.
At one point or another, most DVRs can play as they record pretty much without intervention of the embedded processor. All that needs to be maintained is the filesystem and some pointers.
At one point or another, most DVRs can play as they record pretty much without intervention of the embedded processor. All that needs to be maintained is the filesystem and some pointers.
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