EchoStar Countersuit Against Alviso-Based TiVo Put on Hold

Alviso, Calif. -- A federal judge has put a hold on a patent infringement suit filed by satellite TV provider EchoStar against Alviso-based digital video recorder firm TiVo while the U.S. Patent Office reexamines the patents in question. "The reexamination requests… detail how a large number of prior art references that the USPTO did not previously consider raise substantial new questions regarding the validity of the claims EchoStar asserted and why those claims are invalid," TiVo said in a statement. The ruling is the second recent blow to EchoStar, which last week was ordered in a separate case to pay TiVo nearly $74 million in damages for willfully infringing TiVo's patents. An injunction against EchoStar's manufacture and use of DISH Network digital video recorders that utilize TiVo patents was put on hold last week, while a higher court hears an appeal of that ruling.
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