Google’s Motorola Mobility has reached an out-of-court settlement with TiVo that could avert a trial to resolve their patent dispute. Motorola accused TiVo of infringing its patents for DVRs 2/11 and TiVo filed a counterclaim 3/12. The patent trial was scheduled to begin 6/10.
“We are pleased that all parties involved have reached an agreement to resolve pending litigation,” Motorola spokesman William Moss said.
He did not disclose the terms of the settlement, reported Reuters, which noted that TiVo has turned to litigation to generate revenue from licensing fees as it struggles to fight competition from low-cost rivals. It settled a patent litigation with Verizon for $250.4 million in September last year.
Dish Network/EchoStar paid TiVo a half billion dollars in 5/11 to settle their patent litigation, giving Dish a license for TiVo’s DVR patent and TiVo a license for certain EchoStar patents. The settlement ended years of fighting in federal court, with most rounds having been won by TiVo.
Dish/EchoStar had previously paid TiVo $104 million under the original ruling that the DVR used by Dish/EchoStar (which were one company when this all began), so the payments to TiVo totaled $604 million.
