DISH Network says it will seek a review of a US Appeal Court decision ordering it to disable part of the functionality on its DVR products. The appeal court upheld a ruling against former parent EchoStar that it had infringed patents held by digital recording specialist TiVo.
In a statement DISH said its customers would not be immediately impacted by the developments in the eight-year old legal battle. The company is seeking a stay of execution ahead of its review of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals’ 7-5 split decision.
According to DISH the disablement ruling only covered older generation MPEG-2 DVRs, many of which had already been upgraded. If unsuccessful in his legal bid, DISH said it would look to upgrade the remaining units as quickly as possible.
TiVo welcomed the move, saying that it paved the way for the company to receive substantial damages and contempt sanctions regarding the DVRs that EchoStar and Dish Network failed to disable. Shares in TiVo climbed 30% following the ruling.
