TiVo shares rise after jury rules in its favor
TiVo shares rise after jury rules in its favor:
found 2006-04-19 02:10:21
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TiVo shares rise after jury rules in its favor:
found 2006-04-19 02:10:21
TiVo scores patent win against EchoStar | CNET News.com:
update A Texas jury has awarded TiVo $73.9 million in damages after finding that EchoStar infringed on patents held by TiVo for digital video recorders.
TiVo sued EchoStar in 2004 for violating a patent on a "multimedia time warping system," which involved recording a program on one channel while watching another. The case was being closely watched by TiVo investors. The company has struggled to grow as set-top box makers incorporate DVR capabilities in their products.
"This decision recognizes that our intellectual property is valuable, and will ensure that moving forward EchoStar and any others that want to use our patented technology will be required to provide us with compensation," TiVo said in a statement.
EchoStar plans to appeal the verdict, it said in a statement. "This is the first step in a very long process and we are confident we will ultimately prevail. Among other things, we believe the patent--as interpreted in this case--is overly broad given the technology in existence when TiVo filed its patent...Additionally, the Patent Office is in the process of reexamining TiVo's patent, having determined there is a substantial question concerning the validity of the patent."
Mannatech Successfully Enforces Its Ambrotose Patent Against a Nutritional Supplements Firm Based in the United Kingdom: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:
COPPELL, Texas, April 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Global health and wellness leader Mannatech, Incorporated (Nasdaq: MTEX - News), has successfully enforced one of its product patents against Bion/Elphanta, a nutritional supplements firm based in the United Kingdom.
In an order filed with the High Court of Justice patents court in London, Bion agreed to stop breaching Mannatech's U.K. patent on technology related to Ambrotose complex, a unique glyconutritional formulation Mannatech introduced in 1996. Bion also agreed to stop the manufacture, sales and importation of all dietary supplements related to glyconutrition "in any form and by any means."
Mannatech filed the patent-infringement lawsuit in the U.K. against Bion and its principal in February 2005.
"Mannatech will defend its intellectual property and vigorously pursue infringements," said Bettina Simon, senior vice president and general counsel of Mannatech.
Internet News Article | Reuters.com:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Netflix Inc may face a tough fight in enforcing its patents for its pioneering online DVD rental service against rival Blockbuster Inc., but could reap substantial benefits if it wins or the companies settle, lawyers and analysts said on Wednesday.
Netflix on Tuesday sued Blockbuster in federal court in San Francisco, seeking an injunction to stop Blockbuster from infringing on two patents that protect Netflix's business method.
The patents cover Netflix's practice of having subscribers prioritize "queues," or lists of titles they want to rent, on Netflix's Web site, and of automatically replacing each DVD that is returned for the next title on the subscriber's queue.
Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy likened the suit to one filed by Yahoo Inc. subsidiary Overture Services against Google Inc. in connection with claims that Google infringed on Overture's paid search patent.
Google ultimately settled the case by agreeing to take out a license to the Overture patent and several related patents for shares of Google stock worth about $450 million, according to the Web site of Overture's attorney, Robert Fram.
"Netflix really did create this model when no one else was doing online DVD rental and they made a business of it," Rashtchy said. "As far as I know, no one had created a monthly subscription model where you were not purchasing but renting."
Dallas Business Journal: Mary Kay ordered to pay $26M-plus in patent infringement lawsuit - 2006-04-05:
Mary Kay Inc. was ordered to pay more than $26 million in back royalties to TriStrata Technology Inc. in connection with a patent infringement case.
A state district court in Wilmington, Del., on March 31, denied Addison-based Mary Kay's post-trial motions and ordered the cosmetics company to pay $26.4 million in back royalties to TriStrata, the company said Wednesday.
Mary Kay said in a statement Wednesday that it would begin an appeals process now that a court judgment has been issued in the case.
Mary Kay said the original lawsuit, filed in 2001, is related to products Mary Kay created in the 1990s using its own patented Alpha Hydroxy Acid technology. The company says it no longer markets products containing Alpha Hydroxy Acid technology because anti-aging skin care technology has advanced.
With interest, TriStrata says the total amount of the judgment is about $41.4 million.
The court also blocked Mary Kay from infringing on three patents that were part of the case.
Wilmington, Del.-based TriStrata develops alpha-hydroxyacid skin care technology and holds more than 125 patents related to alpha-hydroxyacids and other skin care technology.
Web sites: www.marykay.com and www.neostrata.com
AP Wire | 04/03/2006 | Intuit sues H&R Block for alleged copyright infringement:
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Intuit Inc. on Monday sued H&R Block Inc. for alleged copyright infringement, escalating the recent acrimony between the leading makers of tax preparation software.
The San Jose federal court lawsuit alleges H&R Block has been airing television commercials that echo Intuit's promotions for its market-leading TurboTax software.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit is seeking a court order to stop the H&R Block ads, which so far have aired in Oregon and Florida.
"When our competitors inappropriately copy our ads, violating our intellectual property, we will fight to protect it," said Brad Henske, an Intuit vice president in charge of the company's consumer tax group.
Kansas City, Mo.-based H&R Block, the maker of TaxCut software, said it wasn't surprised by the suit.
CC patent victory clarifies case law - 3 April 2006:
Clifford Chance has won a rare patent case after the London International Financial Futures Exchange (Liffe) won an important victory that clarifies case law regarding the owner of an invention.
Liffe prevailed in its High Court battle against ex-employee Dr Pavel Pinkava, who invented an electronic trading system while employed at Liffe.
Mr Justice Kitchin ruled that Liffe owned the IP rights to the system, despite the fact that Pinkava had patented his invention in the US and set up a company called De Novo to hold the patents.
Kitchin J found that Liffe owned the IP rights because the "inventions were made in the course of the duties which were assigned to Dr Pinkava".
Kitchin J's approach was to look at Pinkava's job description to determine whether Liffe had paid him to come up with such inventions as part of his job.