Judge orders EchoStar to disable DVRs within 30 days

[LoadStar]

http://news.com.com/Judge+to+EchoStar+Disable+your+DVRs/2100-1030_3-6107123.html?tag=nefd.top

Phew. MAJOR blow to EchoStar. Who will TiVo go after next? I'm afraid it's Time Warner, since Comcast already has a licensing agreement with TiVo, and DirecTV still has the existing TiVo license that they continue to renew while they continue to deploy their non-TiVo DVR boxes.

Actually - would they go after Time Warner, since they're offering the service, Scientific Atlanta, since they make the boxes, or Pioneer, since I understand they supply the software for the boxes for this area?

[jkane]

Let's see, there will be lawyers involved right?  That means all three will be named as potential victims ..  er .. I mean defendents.   :rolleyes:

I have 2 of those dish PVR's that are supposed to be cut off in 30 days.  I hope they make some kind of deal.  My dream it involves a dish supported Tivo with wish lists and thumbs up based automatic recording.  Oh, yeah, it has to be a HD device too!  I can dream, can't I?

[mrmike]

IANAL, but this specific case is related to a specific methodology used to allow video and audio to be manipulated during the encoding and decoding record and playback process by a relatively cheap and slow processor.  It specifically relates to the fact that TiVo demonstrated their tech to E* (and provided them a prototype which was never returned) as part of a licensing discussion, and they allege that this was reverse engineered to duplicate a patented portion of the device which was then implemented in the early E* DVRs.

[gparris]

Satelliteguys has just posted that a higher court has stopped this from happening and Echostar is able to continue to sell DVRs again just like before.