Hasta La Gadget!

We just spent some time talking to Sharp’s reps about that ITC ban on its LCD panels, and while they certainly didn’t sound happy about the ruling, they made it clear that it shouldn’t have too much of an effect on US consumers — Aquos TVs and Sharp professional LCD displays currently on shelves are fine to be sold, and updated models have been hitting the channel as of last month. As you’d expect, the new displays have been re-engineered to workaround the Samsung patent in question, but here’s where it gets confusing: the basic model numbers haven’t changed. Instead, the new units have an “N” at the end, so a TV like the Aquos LC52-E77U will now be labeled LC52-E77UN. Sharp says the updated models have exactly the same specs as the outgoing ones, but we’re waiting on a detailed list of spec changes — or better, a side-by-side comparison — so we can decide whether or not the HDTV equivalents of a pre-CBS Fender are floating around out there.

Update: Sharp hit us back with some revised information, so we’ve changed the post slightly.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

Sharp says ITC ban on LCD imports won’t affect US consumers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a long, messy road, but now that TiVo’s beaten a victory out of EchoStar in that seemingly-endless DVR patent lawsuit it sounds like the company is trying to exert some muscle — it’s already in talks to bring its service to Time Warner Cable, and sources have told Bloomberg the ultimate plan is to eventually collect royalties from every pay-TV provider in the US. That might sound bullying and even a little trollish, but keep in mind these patents have withstood pretty much every legal challenge EchoStar could throw at them, so TiVo’s operating from a position of some certainty here — especially since it’s got license agreements with huge players like Comcast and DirecTV to use as leverage in negotiations as well. Of course, none of this solves any of TiVo’s actual problems with its products, and the company’s topsy-turvy balance sheet has some analysts thinking its ripe for a buyout by one of the bigs, so things could change dramatically at any minute, but for right now it sounds like your chances of getting the TiVo interface on your cable or satellite company DVR just went up, and that’s almost certainly a good thing.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

TiVo coming to Time Warner Cable, potentially lots of other providers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla’s done a good job keeping itself out of the courtroom recently, but the good times don’t last forever — founder Martin Eberhard has just sued the company and CEO Elon Musk for libel, slander, and breach of contract. Eberhard claims that after he and Mark Tapenning founded Tesla, he was summarily pushed out of the company by Musk, wrongfully denied his severance package, and then disparaged both publicly and within the company — and on top of it all, Musk sent the second Roadster produced out for “endurance testing” where it was wrecked instead being sold to Eberhard as promised. Ouch. Interestingly, the core of the lawsuit directly mirrors the suit filed former PR director David Vespremi over the same series of events, so it seems like there’s a pattern here, but we’ll see how much of this is true when Tesla and Eberhard face off in the courtroom — our friends at Autoblog Green just received this statement from legendarily-prickly Tesla PR spokesperson Rachel Konrad:

This lawsuit is a fictionalized, inaccurate account of Tesla’s early years — it’s twisted and wrong, and we welcome the opportunity to set the record straight. Incidentally, Tesla will also be filing counterclaims and in the process present an accurate account of the company’s history.

Yeah, we’d say there are some fireworks brewing. Stay tuned.

Read – Autoblog Green
Read – Wired
Read – Eberhard’s complaint [Warning: PDF]

Filed under: Transportation

Tesla founder sues Tesla, Elon Musk originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, Sprint and Palm are hoping the Pre turns the page on their relatively dark recent past, but karma’s a bitch sometimes — the other Palm news this week is that Sprint and Palm have settled a class-action lawsuit alleging the two companies misled customers into thinking there’d be WiFi and Bluetooth accessories for the Treo 600. Remember how crushed we all were when nothing ever hit the market? The pain was almost immeasurable — unless you’re a class-action settlement attorney, in which case you instinctively know anyone who bought a Sprint Treo 600 before October 27, 2004 is owed either a $20 Sprint service credit or a $27.50 credit to be used in Palm’s online store. So, anyone still have their Treo 600 receipts from 2004? Yeah, we didn’t think so.

[Via TamsPalm]

Filed under: Cellphones

Attention Sprint Treo 600 owners: you’re owed $27.50 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re a bit hesitant to call this one done given the history involved, but a federal judge in Texas has dealt DISH / EchoStar yet another serious blow in its long-standing dispute with TiVo, and this time he’s taken a number of other measures that could cause EchoStar to finally rethink its workaround-litigate strategy. The big setback for EchoStar, however, is the one-two punch of $190 million in damages it’s been ordered to pay TiVo and an order to disable the “infringing function” on all but 193,000 DVRs now in the hands of subscribers. The judge also found that EchoStar’s recently-implemented workaround technology still violated the patent in question and, as a result, he’s ordered EchoStar to inform the court before it decides to try its hand at another “design-around” of the infringing patent. For its part, TiVo says that it is “extremely gratified by the Court’s well reasoned and thorough decision,” while DISH / EchoStar would only say that it plans to appeal the court’s decision and file a motion to stay the order with a federal appeals court.

Read – The New York Times, “Court Awards TiVo $190 Million in EchoStar Patent Case”
Read – TiVo Statement on U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Decision

Filed under: Home Entertainment

DISH / EchoStar ordered to pay TiVo $190 million in patent infringement case originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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