Hasta La Gadget!

You knew it couldn’t be over, right? The long running TiVo vs. DISH / Echostar patent case took a not-so-new twist yesterday when the Patent and Trademark Office issued a preliminary finding rejecting some of the claims of its Time Warp patent. While DISH was pleased, considering the PTO’s conclusions as “highly relevant” to its ongoing appeal, TiVo issued a statement calling this step “not unusual” pointing out that the exact same thing happened when its patent was reexamined in 2005 (and subsequently upheld in 2007,) and that the next step in the process is where it will be able to present its explanation for the first time. All you need to know is that it will still be a while before anyone involved (except the two company’s lawyers) are cashing any large checks, or gets their DVR taken away.

[Via Multichannel News]

Read – TiVo Statement on Developments in Lawsuit Against EchoStar
Read – DISH Network and EchoStar Statement Regarding Tivo

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Patent Office rejects some of TiVo’s patent claims, battle vs. DISH to rage on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember when we thought that those $90 million and $190 million judgments in the endless TiVo / EchoStar case were big noise? Yeah, they were apparently pocket change: according to documents recently filed with the court, TiVo’s asking for nearly a billion dollars in contempt sanctions against EchoStar. Unfortunately, the original document in which TiVo made the request was filed under seal because it contains confidential information, but it appears that TiVo’s none too pleased that EchoStar violated the permanent injunction that ordered it to disable some 193,000 DVRs in the wild, and it’s looking for some payback. For its part, EchoStar says that it doesn’t have to comply with the court’s order because the injunction was put on hold pending appeal — an argument that appears on the surface to make perfect sense, but since we can’t read TiVo’s motion we can’t say for sure what’s going on, and there’s always a chance the company’s just playing hardball in order to force a late settlement. Given the rocky history of this endless case, we doubt that’s likely, but one thing’s for certain: all these lawyers are eating well tonight.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

TiVo asks court for a billion dollars in EchoStar case originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like at least one round of the battle between Funai and VIZIO is drawing to a close, and it’s a big win for VIZIO. U.S. Customs has ruled that all current VIZIO TVs do not infringe on Funai’s Patent 6,115,074 — which was rejected by the Patent Office a few months ago. With the USPTO and US Customs now on the same page, all the bureaucratic checkmarks are in place and VIZIO TVs can freely enter the US on their immigrant-inspired journey to homes all across this fair land. Next up is VIZIO’s countersuit against Funai — with drama like this unfolding between TV manufacturers, who needs an actual TV for entertainment?

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

U.S. Customs sees it VIZIO’s way, TVs to keep flowing in originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Electronics packaging has been growing steadily smaller and less annoying over recent times, but here comes Apple adding complexity where we didn’t know it was needed. The bright sparks at Cupertino envision powered, data-transmitting boxes that will ensure the device within is fully juiced, packing the latest firmware, and capable of pumping out video demos so that the packaging needn’t get in the way of wooing customers. Sure, up-to-date firmware and a full battery sound nice, but we can’t help but wonder about the price premium we’d have to swallow to be able to see our new toy dancing before we’ve even set it free from its box.

[Via Phone Arena]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Apple’s ‘active packaging’ patent application tries to reinvent the box originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At first glance, we thought this all sounded a little too familiar: as you know, some PS3s had software-based PS2 emulation way back in 2007. So it was a little bit of a surprise when Siliconera unearthed patent docs dated last December (and only published by the patent office late last week) for the technology to decode and recompile software written for the PS2’s Emotion Engine on the current device’s Cell Processor. There’s been some speculation that this functionality might be included in the rumored slim PS3 at some point — either in the form of support for your old school PS2 discs or for digital downloads. Who knows? You might be playing your old copy of Shrek: Super Party! on your PS3 sooner than you think.

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming

Sony patents new Cell-based PS2 emulator originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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