GearBits

TiVo Sues EchoStar

TiVo has just filed a patent infringement suit against satellite TV company EchoStar Communications.

Some set-top boxes from EchoStar's satellite service come with digital video recorder (DVR) capabilities, which TiVo says violates its US patent for a "multimedia time warping system."

TiVo's patents are considered critical to its licensing business - which includes Pioneer, Sony and Toshiba as licensees - as well as for set-top boxes used by partner DirecTV, a rival to EchoStar. TiVo's patent portfolio includes 40 awarded patents and over 100 applications pending.