TiVo Sues Echostar over its DVR Players

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

TiVo was the original company to pioneer the DVR player bringing fantastic new benefits to its customers allowing users to automatically record their favorite TV shows onto a single mass storage device that sits comfortably in the place of the video recorder. They can even play them back and skip adverts, something customers were extremely happy with.

Despite TiVo being the first company to bring out this device they were undermined by a number of copy cat companies which now sell their own DVR players. This has left TiVo in financial difficulties despite being the household name for DVR players.

In attempt to win back financial losses TiVo is attempting to sue Echostar claiming that Echostar has stolen one of the features of its DVR players. The feature is the ability for users to record a program while simultaneously watching another.

This case will have a large impact on manufacturers of DVR players since it will open the door for TiVo to sue other companies should TiVo win this case. TiVo will be able to license parts for DVR players to a number of companies resulting in a new income for the company. It could bring the possibility of TiVo receiving money for every DVR sold using their idea.