TiVo asks court for a billion dollars in EchoStar case

Remember when we thought that those $90 million and $190 million judgments in the endless TiVo / EchoStar case were big noise? Yeah, they were apparently pocket change: according to documents recently filed with the court, TiVo's asking for nearly a billion dollars in contempt sanctions against EchoStar. Unfortunately, the original document in which TiVo made the request was filed under seal because it contains confidential information, but it appears that TiVo's none too pleased that EchoStar violated the permanent injunction that ordered it to disable some 193,000 DVRs in the wild, and it's looking for some payback. For its part, EchoStar says that it doesn't have to comply with the court's order because the injunction was put on hold pending appeal -- an argument that appears on the surface to make perfect sense, but since we can't read TiVo's motion we can't say for sure what's going on, and there's always a chance the company's just playing hardball in order to force a late settlement. Given the rocky history of this endless case, we doubt that's likely, but one thing's for certain: all these lawyers are eating well tonight.

[dsteve303 @ Jul 13th 2009 11:00PM]

OH SNAP!!!!!!!!!!!

[Return of Jackson...whoo! @ Jul 13th 2009 11:12PM]

If I was EchoStar, I would just pay to have the Judge, and all employees, share holders and CEO's (family included) of Tivo Killed. Probably cheaper.

[joshua_w @ Jul 13th 2009 11:04PM]

I feel that a picture of Dr. Evil would've better suited this post.

[Aguiluz @ Jul 13th 2009 11:07PM]

http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_movies_actors/film_images/Austin_Powers_Mike_Myers_as_Dr_Evil.jpg

and

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/drevil

LOL.

[Aguiluz @ Jul 13th 2009 11:08PM]

We take EchoStar hostage for.... ONE BILLION DOLLARS!

[oliver hart @ Jul 13th 2009 11:08PM]

headline should have said "tivo suggests a billion dollars in echostar case"

[Epsilon-Not @ Jul 13th 2009 11:10PM]

TiVo asks court for enough money to make up for poor sales this quarter?

Hey, I don't know...

[cwluc @ Jul 13th 2009 11:17PM]

BWHAHAHA That's the funniest thing I've heard all day! One billion dollars...keep dreaming.

[Jagger @ Jul 13th 2009 11:16PM]

More like:

"Give it up TiVo: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered"

[Absolute92 @ Jul 13th 2009 11:34PM]

Do people even buy Tivo's anymore ? Probably not ,,,,,,

[coyotej @ Jul 13th 2009 11:51PM]

Sure they do (on cable), they have serious loyalty from a lot of customers, though certainly the landscape has gotten tougher in the past few years. I have a TiVoHD and I love it.

Apparently they are doing Satellite boxes with DirecTV again, which historically were quite popular... but time will tell.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Jul 14th 2009 12:03AM]

Not all that many. Which is why they are turning to patent trolling to supplement their income.

[engadget @ Jul 14th 2009 12:36AM]

Clearly the words of a man that's only ever used crappy DVRs

[bgmncwj @ Jul 14th 2009 1:17AM]

Patent trolling? They developed the tech before anybody else. They should get what the law legally allows. If you don't like the law petition your congresscritter to get it changed. At the same time if it were you and some big company was stealing your ideas you'd be pissed looking for a lawyer; what's the difference?

[grydlok @ Jul 13th 2009 11:34PM]

Wow go straight for the juggler.

[Ron @ Jul 13th 2009 11:46PM]

Why? What have the poor jugglers ever done to you?! ;)
jugular: veins in the neck that return blood from the head
juggler: a performer who juggles objects and performs tricks of manual dexterity

[Adrian @ Jul 14th 2009 1:54AM]

That reply seriously made me LOL. Thank you.

[TomServo @ Jul 13th 2009 11:46PM]

Its like "I want million kajillion dollars"

[Snitch @ Jul 13th 2009 11:48PM]

Damn that's a lot of happy meals.

[John @ Jul 13th 2009 11:54PM]

It's off the mark, but I'd for Tivo to end up with Echostar

[masterhalo @ Jul 14th 2009 12:05AM]

Rough economy eh Tivo?

[Kevin @ Jul 14th 2009 12:09AM]

Now I dont hate the company Echostar. But TIVO just needs to stop crying already.....

[snowwy66 @ Jul 14th 2009 12:15AM]

well, this is how i see it. i've had directv's own box. i've seen dish's own box and i've seen cable's own box. breaking away from tivo was the worse thing they could have done. tivo was and still is by far the superor being. the only thing that sucks about tivo is the 30 minute timeframe it still uses while everyone else had a 60 or 90 minute timeframe. other then that. i've not one problem with my tivo. which was more then i can say about the rest.

[sweet greggo @ Jul 14th 2009 12:33AM]

Eventually TiVo will lose too much money and have to file for bankruptcy. That's when EchoStar will buy them, and once again the digital recording universe will be balanced.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jul 14th 2009 12:39AM]

This is becoming the Duke Nukem Forever of court cases.

[Evan @ Jul 14th 2009 2:38AM]

What is this, China?

Tech invented and patented in 1998.

Tech stolen without license shortly there after.

What could be more clear?

Pay them some mother f#ck#ng money!

but prolly not a full billion.

[digitallysick @ Jul 14th 2009 3:14AM]

TiVo Deserves the money though

[Doug @ Jul 14th 2009 3:53AM]

I've always suspected it, but now it's confirmed.

TiVo is evil.

[Omy @ Jul 14th 2009 4:10AM]

OK so how many of you here were over 12. Coz it doesn't look like it. All the ignorance I read is beyond believe. Finish High School go to college. Then start making some smart comments.

[Curtis @ Jul 14th 2009 7:22AM]

Error in article: 193,000 is the number of DVRs that didn't have to be disabled

[Rob @ Jul 14th 2009 7:32AM]

I really like my TivoHD box. Box, instead of putting so much effort into these lawsuits, they should give some attention to updating the boxes in general. I'd like to be able to stream from my server, play a different number of formats. The box is capable of doing so much more. The Netflix bone was nice. But, how about bringing the GUI to this year. It looks way too outdated.

[Joe Rees @ Jul 14th 2009 9:42AM]

Tivo is just pissed that Echostar were the FIRST to market with a DVR. I had, still have actually the very first Dishplayer that was a joint venture with Microsoft. Enough already Tivo, quit your crying...

[Bucky @ Jul 14th 2009 10:04AM]

Joe, those DVRs weren't part of the suit. It was only after TiVo and EchoStar began discussing a partnership, EchoStar saw the TiVo design, copied it and came out with their own new line of DVRs based on the TiVo design, that TiVo sued them.

[aph3x @ Jul 14th 2009 9:55AM]

In other news, TiVo buys Echostar, then DirecTV buys TiVo.

[Jamus @ Jul 14th 2009 10:00AM]

Tivo is gasping for air and trying to grab any lifeline they can. This one just happens to be soaked in Echostar's blood that is all...

[Bucky @ Jul 14th 2009 10:13AM]

Editor:
Some facts to clarify your story:
o The number of Dish DVRs the court ordered disabled was in excess of 4 million (not 193,000).
o Last month Dish was found in contempt of court for not disabling those DVRs.
o TiVo's motion is for contempt sanctions for the period following the appeals court lifting the stay of the injunction back in the first quarter of 2008.
o Dish contends that it doesn't have to shut down the DVRs because it changed some of the software in the boxes (an excuse the judge in the case did not buy).
o The contempt finding is currently on appeal, and the injunction is again stayed until the appeal is resolved (later this year or early next year).

[dls @ Jul 14th 2009 10:19AM]

I will find it irritating if our broken patent system manages to screw this up for consumers. I had one of the original 6 hour "webtv" DVRs from Dish when I first went with them 10 years ago, so I still find it odd that TiVO somehow didn't notice these features until just a few years back and decided to sue them.

Wait, it's almost like they didn't care until they actually had some competition and then decided to try to squash it with lawyers instead of actually delivering affordable equipment and services to compete via quality. NHah, that could never happen, they must have jsut been living in a nuclear bumker and didn't get the memo...

[Kevin @ Jul 14th 2009 1:26PM]

Your comment sounds nice, but you are missing some facts.

TiVo actually started this suit sometime around the time you were enjoying your first DVR. Unfortunately due to the extreme backlog at the US Patent Office and the long legal process this case has dragged on for years.

[dls @ Jul 14th 2009 10:38AM]

I wonder if Ford is past the window where they can sue GM, Chrysler, etc for "lifting" the automaobile design since we all know having one company control the path of a given technology leads to innovation. I mean, I'm sure TiVo is a kind overlord and would never stagnate.

[George @ Jul 14th 2009 11:26PM]

TiVo & ReplayTV were the first DVRs. Cable & DSS versions of DVRs are cheap horrible designs. EchoStar does not want to pay TiVo to use THEIR technology, but wants to use it anyway because that is what customers want. EchoStar lost the (original) case, and their software "work around" was not good enough because IT STILL INFRINGES on TiVo's technology.

I am using one of the last real DVRs out there (not rented, no monthly fees, etc) because mine still automatically detects commercials and there is no monthly fee. As much as I hate TiVo (in part because they won't use the commercial detection technology) they are totally legally right in this matter. If in fact EchoStar has 4 million infringing DVRs out there, $1 Billion sounds too low. And for every month that EchoStar continues to infringe, the "rate" should be tripled.

Since DirectTV bought the rights to ReplayTV, it would be interesting for TiVo to acquire EchoStar.