TiVo Inc. on Wednesday sued ATT Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. for patent infringement, including one covering the ability to pause and rewind live TV.
p
The DVR maker filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, seeking damages for past infringement and a permanent injunction.
p
There are multichannel operators who compete with us through the unauthorized use of our intellectual property, said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, in a conference call with analysts. He added that while there were talks, business agreements have not been reached.
p
ATT declined to comment. Verizon said it hasn’t seen the lawsuit yet and can’t comment.
p
Separately, TiVo received a setback Wednesday in a similar patent lawsuit against Dish Network Corp. and sister firm EchoStar Corp. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that the re-examination of TiVo’s patent that’s the subject of litigation may continue.
p
TiVo had asked the agency to vacate Dish’s request to look anew at the patents.
p
TiVo sued Dish in 2004, alleging that Dish infringed on its DVR technology. Dish lost. While the case was on appeal, Dish designed a modified software that it downloaded to customers’ DVRs. But TiVo said the workaround software still infringed on its patent and asked the district court for a permanent injunction. TiVo prevailed but Dish appealed the ruling.