The US Patent Trial and Appeal Board said August 7 that patent 8,621,512 is invalid.
The patent for an interactive programmer guide that lets users watch one programe while recording another, is invalid, the PTAB says. It’s an obvious variation of earlier know-how, the Board said.
The patent in the case is one of several Comcast denied infringing in federal court in New York and is part of legal battle that began when they were unable to renew a licensing agreement.
TiVo’s claim that a Comcast X1 feature that lets users watch a channel while recording a show on another network violates one of the tech company’s patents.`z
Earlier, the Board nixed aspects of an incremental search patent held by TiVo as obvious.
Aspects of TiVo subsidiary Veveo’s patent for a digital search system that returns multiple results for a single-character entry and narrows down those results with the entry of additional characters would have been obvious for a person with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and two years of experience…
Comcast has filed more than three dozen petitions challenging patents held by Tivo’s Rovi and Veveo units.