Rovi-owned TiVo this week claimed another small patent infringement victory against Comcast thanks to a favorable determination at the International Trade Commission (ITC).
Administrative Law Judge MaryJoan McNamara said that Comcast’s X1 pay TV platform infringes on a TiVo patent covering search functions.
"We are thrilled by yet another legal victory,” said Arvin Patel, executive vice president and chief intellectual property officer at Rovi, in a statement. “This decision demonstrates Comcast's repeated infringement of Rovis (TiVo) patents. We hope that today’s decision will encourage Comcast to pay the necessary licensing fees so their customers can once again access advanced cable features.”
This is the second favorable ITC determination Rovi and TiVo received from the ITC. In November 2017, the ITC issued a final ruling that Comcast had infringed two TiVo patents around ‘remote record’ functionality, which led to Comcast removing the feature from their products.
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But Comcast is also seeing this week’s decision as a win.
“We view today’s initial determination to be a victory for Comcast because the administrative law judge found no violation as to two of the three patents addressed,” Comcast said in a statement. “We look forward to the full Commission’s review of the one remaining patent later this year, but we are confident, regardless, this ruling will not disrupt our service to our customers. Rovi also was unsuccessful on five other patents that it had previously withdrawn from this case. We will continue to resist Rovi’s efforts to force Comcast and our customers to make unreasonable payments for aging and obsolete patents.”
As this dispute plays out, the ITC is taking up another investigation about another, more recent complaint from Rovi.
Rovi 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.