A settlement has been reached in the long-simmering patent battle between TiVo, Inc. and Douglas County-based DISH Network, formerly known as EchoStar.
California-based TiVo and Englewood-based DISH said today that under the terms of the settlement, DISH Network and EchoStar agree to pay TiVo $500 million, including an initial payment of $300 million with the remaining $200 million distributed in six equal annual installments between 2012 and 2017.
TiVo, DISH Network and EchoStar also agreed to dismiss all pending litigation between the companies and to dissolve all injunctions against DISH Network and EchoStar.
The litigation was dismissed “with prejudice” meaning the actions cannot be refiled.
The firms also announced they’ve granted certain patent licenses to each other.
TiVo granted DISH Network a license under its Time Warp patent and certain related patents, for the remaining life of those patents. TiVo also granted EchoStar a license under the same ‘389 patent and certain related patents to design and make certain DVR-enabled products solely for DISH Network and two international customers.
EchoStar granted TiVo a license under certain DVR-related patents for TiVo-branded, co-branded and ingredient-branded products.
Both Charlie Ergen, CEO of DISH Network, and Tom Rogers, CEO of TiVo, said they were happy the ongoing litigation has finally come to an end.
“The compensation from this settlement, including the resulting reduction in legal expenditures puts TiVo in an enviable financial and strategic position,” said Rogers.
Ergen said that he believes the agreement with TiVo “provides us a competitive advantage as one of the few multichannel operators with rights to operate under TiVo’s Time Warp patent…”
In February, DISH Network won a ruling that reopened its patent-infringement lawsuit against TiVo – a case first filed in 2005.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
