TiVo Launches DVR Upgrade Promotion

TiVo has launched a promotion designed to encourage users of its DVR service to upgrade to its HD DVR. "Beginning today, July 1st, TiVo will begin providing unique offers to dedicated customers that have owned a TiVo DVR for at least one year and are ready to upgrade to an HD DVR," the company said in a statement. "TiVo encourages customers to log onto their account through tivo.com as eligible customers can save $50 or more off of a new TiVo HD DVR. This program is ongoing and is designed to allow current and future TiVo customers access to great savings when upgrading to the best HD DVR with entertainment options no other DVR can match." According to TiVo's Web site, the promotion is being offered to "Series1 and Series2 customers with a valid service contract over one year": the longer a user has been a customer, the larger their savings under the promotion, the site promises.

In other TiVo news, a US Appeals Court has granted DISH Network a stay of an order by Judge David Folsom in the so-called "Time Warp" patent infringement case between TiVo and DISH (formerly EchoStar) that would have required the satellite-TV provider to disable all but 193,000 of its 4 million or so deployed DVR's on the grounds that they infringe upon TiVo's patented technologies. The development follows the appeals court's issue of a temporary stay, June 3rd (see article published on itvt.com on that date). "Without prejudicing the ultimate disposition of this case...we determine based upon the arguments raised in the motions papers that EchoStar has met its burden of demonstrating the requisites for a stay of the order, pending appeal," the appeals court stated in its order. The stay is based on a legal principle that "to prevail, a movant must establish a strong likelihood of success on the merits or, failing that, must demonstrate that it has a substantial case on the merits and that the harms factors militate in its favor," the appeals court explained. The appeals court also expedited the briefing schedule for DISH/EchoStar's appeal of Judge Folsom's ruling, which--in addition to the injunction requiring DISH to disable its DVR's on the grounds that a "workaround" that it had developed continues to infringe upon TiVo's intellectual property--required the company to pay TiVo an additional $103 million (plus interest) in damages: DISH/EchoStar's opening brief is now due July 17th, TiVo's is now due August 25th, and DISH/EchoStar's reply brief is now due September 4th. The case will be heard in November, if possible, the court said.

News of the stay was greeted by DISH and EchoStar (the name under which the satellite-TV provider's hardware arm, which was spun off into a separate company in December 2007, now does business) with the following statement: "We are pleased that the Federal Circuit has blocked the district court's injunction pending our appeal. The Federal Circuit found that EchoStar 'met its burden of demonstrating the requisites for a stay,' including, at a minimum, that we have a substantial case on the merits. As a result of the stay, our customers can continue using their DISH DVR's."

The patent dispute between TiVo and DISH dates back to 2004, when TiVo sued the then-EchoStar, alleging that it was violating its US patent, #6,233,389--i.e. the "Time Warp" patent--which was granted to the company in May, 2001. The patent describes methods for recording one program while playing back another, and for watching a show as it is recording, as well as a storage format that supports "trick-play" capabilities, such as pause-live-TV, fast-forward, rewind, instant replays, and slow motion. In 2006, a jury awarded TiVo $74 million in damages; and in January and April of last year DISH/EchoStar's appeals were rejected. Judge Folsom's ruling that DISH/EchoStar must pay TiVo additional damages was in response to the latter's claim that it was owed damages for the 18 months during which the jury verdict in the case was stayed while DISH/EchoStar unsuccessfully appealed it.