Rovi announced today that it has come to an agreement with Dish Network on a new 10-year patent renewal license agreement.
Under the terms, Dish gets to keep using Rovi’s Conversation Services natural language platform and other Rovi products. The renewal is subject to “certain contingencies” relating to Rovi’s acquisition of TiVo, expected to close Sept. 7.
“Our renewal with Dish further validates the long-term value and relevance of our intellectual property portfolio, reinforcing the importance of Rovi’s intellectual property (IP) with both traditional and next-generation pay-TV service providers,” said Rovi CEO Tom Carson in a statement. “With this most recent renewal, Rovi now has nine of the top 10 U.S. pay-TV operators under license, with significant recent momentum, as seven of those agreements have been signed over the last seven quarters.”
Rovi’s new deal with Dish should help the pay-TV technology vendor to avoid more protracted legal battles like the current skirmish happening with Comcast.
In June, Comcast filed a breach-of-contract suit against Rovi, claiming the vendor's complaint needs to be handled in New York, not Texas, in accordance with the licensing agreement. Comcast also argued that Rovi was wrong in taking the matter before the International Trade Commission and that Comcast has permission to use the patents through March 31 of this year.
"Comcast now brings the instant action to enforce its contractual rights and to establish its noninfringement of Rovi's patents," the complaint said
Comcast’s actions came in response to a suit Rovi filed in April, accusing the MSO and its set-top suppliers of violating 14 of its patents.
According to Rovi, the patents relate to numerous features in Comcast's X1 video platform, including the way Comcast implements remote recording, the "AnyRoom" DVR and search.
For more:
- see this press release
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