Who's next for TiVo? AT&T, Verizon, Microsoft and Moto Mobility face litigation

Having wrenched $500 million from Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) after seven years of legal back-and-forth over patent infringement, TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) CEO Tom Rogers is sizing up his next set of opponents: AT&T (NYSE: T), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI)-and perhaps some other as-yet-unnamed cable players.

"We've established the precedent and taken away any question of whether there is value in this patent," Rogers said during a Multichannel News Q&A. Dish, he said, was "by far the toughest litigant out there" so "when the toughest guy who plays the toughest litigation game makes that decision ... it send a very clear signal to others who may be willing to take the chance on litigation."

Dish agreed to pay $300 upfront and $200 million over five years to settle the patent dispute. It also agreed to work with TiVo's technology. TiVo has not yet filed direct legal action against anyone in the cable industry-and actually has deals with Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR) and Suddenlink-but that does not mean it won't, Rogers hinted, noting that the DVR provider is in "discussions with all levels of players in the cable industry."

For more:
- Multichannel News has this article

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