- Comcast found guilty of infringing TiVo patents
- Six additional patent breaches investigated
- Comcast celebrates: No violation to two of the three claims
This is the second favourable determination by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) that TiVo has received against Comcast.
The ITC has found that Comcast has infringed TiVo’s patent for “method and system for dynamically processing ambiguous, reduced text search queries and highlight results thereof,” however it also found that an additional TiVo claim was invalid.
Comcast’s X1 entertainment platform has previously infringed Rovi patents, a TiVo company which resulted in a “limited exclusion order” that forced Comcast to remove popular features from its products.
In November 2017, the ITC issued a final ruling that Comcast had infringed two Rovi patents around ‘remote record’ functionality. Comcast subsequently elected to remove this popular feature.
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Judge MaryJoan McNamara is also conducting a third investigation into Comcast for its alleged infringement of six Rovi patents including: X1 Sports App, multi-room DVR features, and set-top box integrations of apps like Netflix.
Rovi Corporation executive vice president and chief intellectual property officer Arvin Patel said: “We are thrilled by yet another legal victory.
“This decision demonstrates Comcast’s repeated infringement of Rovi’s patents. We hope that today’s decision will encourage Comcast to pay the necessary licensing fees so their customers can once again access advanced cable features.”
TiVo has a portfolio of 2.271 patents in the US while it holds a global patent portfolio of over 5,500 patents. In 2018, TiVo saw 489 new patents issued, a record year for patent for the company.
Judge McNamara dismissed TiVo’s claims regarding the patent for “interactive television systems with digital video recording and adjustable reminders,” and the patent for “electronic programme guide with digital storage.”
In a statement, according to Multichannel, Comcast said: “We view today’s initial determination to be a victory for Comcast because the administrative law judge found no violation as to two of the three patents addressed.
“We look forward to the full Commission’s review of the one remaining patent later this year, but we are confident, regardless, this ruling will not disrupt our service to our customers.
“Rovi also was unsuccessful on five other patents that it had previously withdrawn from this case. We will continue to resist Rovi’s efforts to force Comcast and our customers to make unreasonable payments for aging and obsolete patents.”
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