Judge: EchoStar's DVRs Must Be Disabled

Aug 18 2006, 11:00am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Thanks to a recent ruling, a huge chunk of people who have EchoStar's digital video recorder, which is the DVR supplied through Dish satellite TV, will soon find their recorder virtually useless. A Texas judge last night came to a decision in the case against EchoStar brought forth by TiVo, claiming that EchoStar willfully infringed on several copyrights owned by TiVo.

This just in:
Reuters reports that the Appeals Court Blocks TiVo Injunction.

Millions of Dish satellite subscribers will be affected. It is unclear as of yet how Dish will handle the consumer side of things, in terms of refunds and/or finding a new manufacturer for their proprietary DVRs. Out of the several million, 200,000 of the DVRs will still actually be in service since they are not part of the majority that infringe on TiVo's copyrights.Four months ago, TiVo won a civil case against EchoStar, and when combined with the new ruling yesterday, the total that EchoStar must pay to TiVo in damages is almost $90 million. The judge refused to consider arguments made by EchoStar, such as that they suffered irreperable damage because it took TiVo so long to file the suit (thus causing them a larger backlash with their customers).

Let this just be a lesson to you. If you want to get a DVR, just go with the industry leader, TiVo -- not just because you'll have less worry about lawsuits, but also because you can more appropriately adorn it with this adorable TiVo plush doll.

Full story

Report Published by: Mark Raby

where to buy

Buy from Amazon

What Others Say about This

US, EU clear Google's $12.5B Motorola Mobility bid

Google's $12.5 billion bid to buy cellphone maker Motorola Mobility has won approvals from U.S. and European antitrust regulators, moving Google a major step closer to completing the biggest deal in its 13-year history. Monday's blessings mean Google Inc ...
Full article at: NDTV More like this 1 hour ago

Nothing says “Happy Valentines Day” like a Doodle

The people at google are celebrating Valentines Day the best way they know how: with a Google Doodle. This year’s Valentines replacement for the Google logo even comes with music and an animation. For today only, Google’s main search page featured a cute ...
Full article at: Gadget Guy More like this 1 hour ago

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 Sells 3.2 Million Units Its First Weekend

Summit Entertainment announced today that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 sold 3.2 million units in its first weekend of release, topping The Twilight Saga: Eclipse sales by about 18%: Summit Entertainment, a LIONSGATEŽ company, announced today ...
Full article at: Comingsoon.net More like this 2 hours ago

Don't miss ...

Home Entertainment

LG hires Megan Fox to Promote LG's Cinema 3D TVs...

Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.