Comcast has scored another win in its fight with TiVo over the technology in set-top boxes in the long-running battle over patents.
This time, the US Patent and Trademark Office said a TiVo patent for a way to watch a show while viewing schedule information for other programmes shouldn’t have been issued. It was the last of more than 40 reviews Comcast sought with the agency to challenge TiVo patents.
TiVo won an import ban from the ITC on Comcast Xfinity set-top boxes, only to have the cable company remove the feature at the heart of that case, for remote recording. The patent office now has said the patents in that case are invalid. The ultimate decision, in these and other cases, will be with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, the nation’s top patent court.
“We’re pleased with the patent office’s latest ruling, which invalidates the final Rovi patent under review by the patent office,” Comcast said in a statement. “By invalidating all 12 of the Rovi patents, these rulings further support the fact that Comcast engineers independently created our X1 products and services.”
However, during and Earnings Call TiVo CEO Raghu Rau (pictured) remained optimistic stating “Overall, while the particulars of the various legal fights might be complicated, our message is simple. TiVo is fully committed to protecting its intellectual property from unauthorized use and we expect Comcast will ultimately pay a license for our innovations, just as its Pay TV peer companies do and Comcast did in the past.”
