EchoStar to pay TiVo almost $200 million for contempt of court order

EchoStar Corp., a sibling of the Dish Network, is being ordered to shell out nearly $200 million to TiVo Inc. for contempt of a court order stating that the satellite TV technology firm failed to halt its DVR service after losing a patent-infringement ruling in the two firms' long-running patent litigation.

According to an article on HollywoodReporter.com, "DVR pioneer TiVo had been looking for $974.5 million for contempt of court after the court had issued a permanent injunction in the case that has dragged on for 5½ years."

Meanwhile, TiVo maintains that the sanctions deemed by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, resulted in the case's overall damages and sanctions to come to an amassed figure of about $400 million. Yet, the sanctions notwithstanding, both Dish and EchoStar view the verdict as a moderate triumph.

"We are pleased that the district court rejected Tivo's request to award a billion dollars in sanctions and that it found that any violation of the injunction was not willful," they said. "While we disagree that any amount of sanctions was warranted, the decision confirms our belief that we designed around Tivo's patent in good faith. We believe that we ultimately will prevail on appeal."

TiVo then stated that they were satisfied that the court "will seriously entertain the award of enhanced sanctions" if EchoStar's appeal is ineffective and the company continues to disregard the court's decrees. They added that they hope that the verdict will inch the two parties that much closer to a final judgment.