TiVo Files Suit Against AT&T and Verizon

[JMcEntegart]

TiVo has filed a patent infringement suit against wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon Communications.

TiVo Files Suit Against AT&T and Verizon : Read more

 

[jarnail24]

Doesn't time shifting mean abe to rewind and forward. Doesn't that mean VCR companies can sue tivo because you could do this with recorded tv shows on tape.
I enjoy my Tivo but there just sueing because their losing market share because every company offers their own dvr now. Man the American justice system need to grow some balls when it comes to compaies Sueing other companies in this manner. I see Tivo becoming one of those patent troll companies in a few years.

 

[nun]

one work, flawed system.

 

[doomtomb]

Patent infringement news every week.... man this system sucks.

 

[Guest]

I work for a company that has DVR products that always beats TiVo's products at all the major awards and has been/is being sued by TiVo. TiVos patents are almost exactly like what jarnail24 describes...and the area the file the cases in , is well known for almost always supporting a plaintiff in these types of cases (infamous really), It does seem that TiVo is playing the SCO-Linux game, sue so much that it is cheaper to settle.

 

[scuba dave]

[citation][nom]jarnail24[/nom]Doesn't time shifting mean abe to rewind and forward. Doesn't that mean VCR companies can sue tivo because you could do this with recorded tv shows on tape. I enjoy my Tivo but there just sueing because their losing market share because every company offers their own dvr now. Man the American justice system need to grow some balls when it comes to compaies Sueing other companies in this manner. I see Tivo becoming one of those patent troll companies in a few years.[/citation]

Follow the links in the article. They will show you that the patents aren't over something as simple as "rewind" or "fast-forward". Honestly. Read everything before commenting.

Beyond that. Good on them. Sucks to see another lawsuit, but then again, to their credit, they DID try to resolve this outside of court. HARDLY trollish behavior. However, I would like to know just what TiVo wanted from Verizon and AT&T, and/or why an agreement couldn't be found. Someone had to be greedy. I just wonder which side it was?

 

[geoffs]

[citation][nom]scuba dave[/nom]Follow the links in the article. They will show you that the patents aren't over something as simple as "rewind" or "fast-forward".[/citation]Haven't read the patents yet, so I won't comment on them. I know TiVo gets excellent reviews for their products, got friends who are big fans. TiVo did themselves a great disservice by filing this in the Eastern District of Texas. That court is a notorious venue for "patent trolls", and filing there makes TiVo look suspect. Sometimes the "best" solution is not the obvious or easy solution and this looks like TiVo trying to take the easy route.

 

[geoffs]

Ok, I've now read the patents (although not thoroughly). I must say there is quite a bit more to them than the brief descriptions suggest. In particular, the "media switch", it's decoding/buffering system, and the adaptive time correction system used when exiting fast/slow forward/reverse are novel and not obvious. Not what I was expecting, so TiVo may have legit patents.

Whether or not the AT&T or Verizon devices infringe those patents is another question as I can think of other ways to accomplish the same functionality without using the things that appear to be described in the patents. TiVo's method does have advantages over the other methods I can think of, so the developers did choose TiVo's methods for the advantages.... Only examination of the AT&T and Verizon devices will show whether or not there was infringement.

 

[anamaniac]

Wait... isn't that just fast forwarding and rewinding, with something to correct mistakes?

 

[masop]

Man, this is getting old. I used to be a TiVO customer but ended up sacrificing half of my 36 month pre-paid programming package due to a TV upgrade from SD to HDTV. I was forced to switch to Verizon FIOS DVR service due to excessive cost of the TiVO HD models.

If they are successful in the lawsuits, I'm not going to sit down and take the punches by the system, losing my DVR service. It seems unrealistic to allow millions of DVR's to be revoked and all DVR service shut down. That just isn't going to happen. It would be devastating, at least to Verizon FIOS customers such as myself. I'm not sure how widespread AT&T TV service is.

The thing with TIVO is they are not capable of multi-room viewing with one unit like with Verizon FIOS DVR's are, or at least weren't the last time I checked. I'm all for the suit, as long as it has merit. Otherwise, it may be somewhat of an attempt at gaining back market share. This is coming from a former TiVO user. I'd be all for switching my DVR back to TiVO if they would partner with Verizon, or even come out with an HD package deal for cheap and provide multi-room viewing capabilities for a fair price.

 

[joebob2000]

TiVo Wednesday announced that the company was filing suit against the two cell phone companies over three DVR patents.

Ahem, no. I don't mean to nit-pick but the wrong commonality was brought out... TiVo is filing suit against two CABLE TV PROVIDERS who also happen to operate cell phone networks. This has nothing to do with cell phones, and everything to do with set top boxes and on-demand/locally recorded media delivered to them.

 

[azgard]

I'm not really sure how or why they are suing the cable provider's, they should be going after Pace, Scientific Atlanta, or Motorola they are the companies that actually make the DVR.

 

[geoffs]

[citation][nom]azgard[/nom]I'm not really sure how or why they are suing the cable provider's, they should be going after Pace, Scientific Atlanta, or Motorola they are the companies that actually make the DVR.[/citation]Because AT&T and Verizon sell the devices and services that benefit from any infringement and they are in a much better position to stop the usage of any infringing devices. Also, AT&T & Verizon will bear the brunt of any customer complaints (and revenue losses) if service is interrupted. AT&T and Verizon are the primary entities benefiting from the use of these devices. If the suit were only against the manufacturer(s), it might require a second suit to get AT&T and Verizon to stop using them or to temporarily disable them. The manufacturer(s) of the devices and/or software should ALSO be named in the suit unless it was designed and manufactured to AT&T and Verizon specifications, in which case the manufacturer(s) might be protected as hired contractors.

 

[fulle]

Patents, in their current form, are retarded. Pretend the slice of bread was just invented, and slices of cheese. And companies are rushing to patent what kind of meat is in their sandwiches. One company claiming it has a patent on any sandwich that calls itself a "sub" or "submarine", another patenting the use of melted cheese, another patenting the use of peppered turkey. Is this a system that benefits anyone?

Software patents feel more and more to me, like the above scenario. Companies patenting ideas that other companies would have engineered on their own anyway, and the mess is destroying the potential for a fucking Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich to ever exist. This needs to stop.

 

[mikepaul]

Apparently there will never be a ruling that a DVR is just the logical extension of the VCR idea combined with the same kind of digital recording I'd seen since my Amiga days. Patents won't be overturned, and royalties will be paid (MAYBE why we don't hear about Scientific Atlanta being sued) or else.

I just wish TiVo had REALLY invented something rather than just refined it...

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

Actually, the AT&T U-Verse boxes USED to be made by Motorola, but now they all come from Cisco. Wouldn't Cisco be responsible for licensing of the software on the boxes, and the cost get passed on to AT&T?

And I don't know too much about Tivo, but I like my AT&T U-Verse where I can record shows from ANY STB in the house, and WATCH from ANY STB in the house... HELL, I can start a show in one room, pause it, and resume it in another room. If I lose my DVR, I will just go back to downloading the TV shows I want to watch again....