May 2, 2011

TiVo, EchoStar Settle for Half-Billion Dollars

TiVo, Dish Network and EchoStar Corporation have settled all of their ongoing patent litigation. Under the terms of the settlement, Dish Network and EchoStar agree to pay TiVo $500 million, including an initial payment of $300 million with the remaining $200 million distributed in six equal annual installments between 2012 and 2017. TiVo, Dish Network and EchoStar agreed to dismiss all pending litigation between the companies with prejudice and to dissolve all injunctions against Dish Network and EchoStar.
 
The parties also granted certain patent licenses to each other. TiVo granted Dish Network a license under its Time Warp patent (US Pat. No. 6,233,389) and certain related patents, for the remaining life of those patents. TiVo also granted EchoStar a license under the same '389 patent and certain related patents, for the remaining life of those patents, to design and make certain DVR-enabled products solely for Dish Network and two international customers. EchoStar granted TiVo a license under certain DVR-related patents for TiVo-branded, co-branded and ingredient-branded products.

In addition, TiVo will play a role in helping Dish Network promote the Blockbuster digital video service.

"We have tremendous respect for TiVo's management, and we have always said that regardless of the outcome of the case, there were many ways that we could work together with TiVo," said Charlie Ergen, chairman and CEO of Dish Network, in a statement. "The results of TiVo's formidable intellectual property enforcement program speak for themselves, and consequently, we are pleased to put this litigation behind us and move forward. Additionally, we believe that our agreement with TiVo provides us a competitive advantage as one of the few multichannel operators with rights to operate under TiVo's Time Warp patent, which ultimately will allow us to enhance the performance of our award-winning DVRs."