No Ruling On Lates TiVo/Dish Battle Sends DVR Company's Shares Down
This story was written by David Kaplan.
TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) may have prevailed in its patent lawsuit against the Dish Network this spring, but investors appeared concerned after as federal judge declined to rule on the DVR company's request to hold the satellite operator in contempt. TiVo shares sank 16.5 percent on Thursday when no ruling was forthcoming from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, where TiVo filed its request, Multichannel News reported. The judge in the case said that he's hoping to rule by the end of the month, but the two parties might have to wait until November for a decision. And that has stoked investors' feeling that no decision is a win for Dish, resulting in TiVo's shares slipping $1.41 a share, closing at $7.31 on Thursday.
In asking the judge to hold the company in contempt, TiVo has complained that Dish has still not dismantled its DVR capabilities as demanded by a prior court ruling. Two years ago, a Texas jury found that Dish had violated TiVo's patent on its Time Warp featurewhich covers devices that can record, store, play, rewind and fast forward live TVand awarded the company $94 million in damages. For its part, Dish Network said it is creating new software for its DVR feature.
By David Kaplan