Rovi is said to have withdrawn a patent claim made against Virgin Media ahead of a fresh court appearance.
Rovi argued the technology used by Virgin to make recommendations to households based on what they’d watched previously infringed European Patent number EP 1 237 372 B2 (the “372 Patent”).
In a statement the Liberty Global cablenet said Rovi has agreed to the revocation of a patent centred on a system for recommending television content to viewers based on their past interactions with the TV program guide.
Virgin says this is the ninth successful defence by Virgin Media against Rovi; the technology and patent holder has previously disputed the figure with Broadband TV News.
Brigitte Trafford, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Virgin Media, said: “All of Rovi’s patents have been found invalid when challenged. On this occasion even they recognised their argument did not stand up to scrutiny. We will continue to fight such claims as they should never have been brought.”
The Virgin Media legal team was led by Mine Hifzi, General Counsel, together with Andrea Murray, Head of Legal, Competition & Regulatory. The external legal advisers were Marks & Clerk Solicitors and counsel were James Mellor QC, Andrew Lykiardopoulos QC and James Whyte.
A series of cases have been brought by Rovi-Gemstar against Virgin Media and its predecessors.
