TiVo says Comcast may be violating hundreds of its patents

TiVo’s patent infringement court battles have been ongoing for years now, and TiVo CEO Dave Shull indicated that his company may have only scratched the surface of potential violations.

During Wednesday’s earnings call, Shull said his company has a portfolio of more than 5,000 patents and applications, and that hundreds of those cover technology innovations related to Comcast’s X1 platform user experience.

“While Comcast may be able to design around any single patent, if we are able to demonstrate that they have violated even a small percentage of these hundreds of patents, the Comcast service will likely continue to lose features that are important to their customers,” Shull said.

But that process could take time since the International Trade Commission’s processes only allows TiVo to bring up a few patents at a time. TiVo and Comcast are currently embroiled in multiple legal battles over patents. TiVo in April filed a complaint against Comcast with the federal agency just days after filing a patent infringement suit with the U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Both filings cover patents related to Comcast’s X1 platform, including features such as the X1 Sports App, multi-room DVR features, and set-top box integrations of apps like Netflix.

But, Shull said that TiVo is still open to negotiating with Comcast.

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“I am always willing to enter into a productive business dialogue, but in the meanwhile, we are committed to the litigation, and Comcast continues to incur liability for their violations of our IP,” said Shull. “That said, I think it’s important to understand that this litigation is not impacting our licensing businesses’ success.”

Indeed, TiVo just reported some positive financial results that propelled its stock up more than 12% since the close of market Wednesday. The company’s revenue is up 11% sequentially to $176.2 million and adjusted EBITDA is up 67% sequentially. Shull praised the company’s IP business for its role in boosting quarterly figures and said that work continues to streamline the company’s products business.

TiVo is still on track to separate its IP licensing and products businesses and expects to complete the process in the first half of 2020.