http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/ Engadget Comments for Federal Court grants stay on EchoStar's TiVo injunction http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Aug 18th 2006 2:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Aug 18th 2006 2:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Yes, well that's because we have no shortage of terrible decision makers coming out of Texas. Yeehaw! ]]>Aug 18th 2006 2:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Aug 18th 2006 2:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/
So anyone should be able to steal anyone else's idea as long as they've got the money to pay a fine?

You still need permission from the patent holder. Say what you want about our patent system, but this is exactly what it was designed *for*. TiVo was a pioneer in this field and if anyone was allowed to just steal their ideas, they'd be out of business tomorrow. And that wouldn't exactly encourage small upstarts to come up with their own new ideas, would it? All it would encourage would be for companies like Microsoft to just rip off any smaller companies' patents, knowing that at worst, all they'd get hit with would be a small royalty - and even then, maybe not for 5 or 10 years.

The court this time said no, you need permission, and without that permission, shut it down. That's the way it should be.
]]>Aug 18th 2006 2:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Aug 18th 2006 3:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/
As someone who deals in patents everyday, I can safely say that the "big company feeling free to rip off a small company's idea because they'll only have to pay a small fine" is a regular occurance.

It's called a lawsuit. Owning a patent doesn't make it criminal for others to steal it. Most small companies don't have the resources to fight to protect their patent in court. So the little guys get screwed.]]>Aug 18th 2006 3:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Aug 18th 2006 4:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Aug 18th 2006 4:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/
As for "they should just have to pay TiVo some money" this is a hotly debated issue in the legal field that was SUPPOSED to be decided by eBay v. MercExchange (but wasn't). A patent is a right to exclude others from making, using, or selling your invention. Let me repeat: A right to exclude, i.e., an injunction. But where a person isn't making a competing prodcut, it seems silly to keep something off the market and thus many courts determine a reasonable royalty and be done with it. But as the patent holder, and as the holder of a right to exclude others, isn't forcing someone to get bought out effectively determining that their "right" isn't a "right" at all?

Sorry, but "blah blah Patent Office out of control" is bunk. There have been some questionable patents here and there, but by and large the patents granted are legit. Everyone just looks at patents with 20/20 hindsight and claims everything is obvious without looking at what is claimed and what was infringed. At a 10,000 foot level a TiVo is a digital VCR but the actual product is much much more than that.

-p-]]>Aug 18th 2006 4:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/
...the story of my life i guess....]]>Aug 18th 2006 6:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/
This is not on the head of TiVo nor the courts, but EchoStar. If millions of people lose their DVR functionality, that's EchoStar's fault for willfully (according to the jury) violating TiVo's patents in the first place, and then refusing to settle with a license deal in the second place. Too bad for the consumers, they've received stolen goods, in effect. Their beef would be with EchoStar for selling them something they had no right to sell.

Anyone who blames the judge or TiVo just doesn't get it.

Besides, if the injunction *is* issued, I bet EchoStar settles a licensing deal with TiVo REAL fast, before they have to disable anything.
]]>Aug 18th 2006 6:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Now as to my father - the origional membrane keyboard was invented by him. The company he was working for was sued by someone who patented the idea after he say that there was no patent for it. Like many fu**ing lawyers do today. The judge looked at the dates, technical papers, press releases, and tossed it out of court stating that he hoped Dad's company buried the guy and also as part of this te patent was revoked after review.
]]>Aug 18th 2006 8:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/do what VCR's have done for years? I would be willing to give up the live recording, and view the content later. That's what I usually do. There is a reason TIVO is going out of busines. They have been sitting on
their gluteous maximum, while their competitors developed superior technology. If TIVO can't sell the technology without a court order, then their technology sucks, and they should be allowed to go bankrupt and liquidate.]]>Aug 26th 2006 1:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/18/federal-court-grants-stay-on-echostars-tivo-injunction/Dec 24th 2007 3:35AM