The Court of Appeal delivered its judgment in an appeal of one of the patent cases brought by Rovi against Virgin Media, and have comprehensively dismissed Rovi’s claims.
Rovi originally sued Virgin Media in the High Court in relation to a patent centred on the ability to pause-and-resume On Demand and Live TV programmes on different devices. The High Court judge, Mr John Baldwin QC, found Rovi’s claim to be invalid and revoked the patent in its entirety. Rovi appealed the High Court’s decision to revoke the patent.
The Court of Appeal has now upheld the High Court’s decision, rejected Rovi’s appeal in its entirety and again ordered Rovi to reimburse Virgin Media’s legal costs. The patent will now be revoked.
The Court of Appeal decision comes shortly after a run of eleven successive defeats for Rovi in which eleven out of eleven patents asserted against Virgin Media have now either been found invalid and/or revoked by either the English Court or by the European Patent Office (EPO).
“Virgin Media’s staunch defence of Rovi’s meritless patent claims has been vindicated by the High Court and the Court of Appeal,” said Brigitte Trafford, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Virgin Media.
“This latest victory in the Court of Appeal follows eleven defeats out of eleven for Rovi, and upholds our position regarding Rovi patents over the last seven years. One Rovi appeal remains and we are confident that it will be rejected by the court.”
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 and Andrew Lykiardopoulos QC.
