TiVo expands patent suit to include Bell

TiVo Corp. is going after a second Canadian telecom for patent infringement, claiming in a lawsuit filed in Federal Court this month that BCE Inc. is illegally using certain functions for its TV products without a licence. In the statement of claim filed on Jan. 19, the company alleges Bell and its operations including Bell Aliant, Bell MTS and Northerntel L.P. have infringed on six of its patents, including the ability to pause and rewind live TV, record live TV, maintain a directory of recorded programs and the ability to watch and record different programs simultaneously. “Key innovations developed by TiVo Corporation’s subsidiaries include interactive program guide (“IPG”) and digital video recorder (“DVR”) technologies that have become fundamental to the television viewing experience,” the claim reads. The suit follows a similar one the California-based company made against Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron in June, when TiVo alleged the regional telecom was infringing on six patents, four of which are shared in this case. It is filing the claims in concert with Rovi Guides Inc., which acquired TiVo Inc. in 2016 but kept the TiVo name. A court date is set for the Videotron case on Feb. 6. TiVo said in its claim against Bell that the telecom only had a limited licence to use its patents on certain online platforms, but didn’t acquire others to expand the use to other products in its portfolio, including FibeTV, FibreOP TV, Bell MTS Ultimate TV, and subsidiary Northwestel’s Pulse TV. It is seeking an interim and permanent ban and damages above $50,000. “Rovi and TiVo have suffered and will continue to suffer harm and damage, and the defendants have made and will continue to make a profit unless restrained by this Honourable Court,” the decision said. Bell declined to comment on the allegations. TiVo claims that the market share of Rovi Canadian Pay-TV licensees represents over five million subscribers, which it said in the claim is approximately half of the Canadian cable, IPTV and direct-to-home satellite market. It added it licenses its technologies to companies around the world — and to Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc., Cogeco Inc. and Cable Cable Inc. in Canada — with over $3 billion US in revenues and payments. The suit comes after TiVo successfully obtained a ban on imports in the United States of Comcast Corp.’s X1 set-top boxes that have infringing components following a final determination from the U.S.’s International Trade Commission in November that found Comcast infringed on two of TiVo’s patents. “We respectfully disagree with the ITC’s decision in this matter,” Comcast spokeswoman Jenni Moyer said in an emailed statement to the Wire Report in November. “In fact, Rovi has never disputed that Comcast or its predecessors independently developed our X1 platform and our cloud- and app-based technology. While we believe the ITC reached the wrong decision, we will remove this feature from those offered to our subscribers while we pursue an appeal.” Earlier this month, TiVo and Rovi launched another round of lawsuits against Comcast relating to eight patents on the X1, news publication Variety reported. Shaw’s BlueSky platform is based on the X1 platform, while Rogers and Videotron are also in the process of implementing the system. A Rogers spokesperson said in an email in November that the company doesn’t anticipate the ITC decision will impact the company’s launch of the platform, slated for early this year. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

TiVo expands patent suit to include Bell

News | January 31, 2018

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TiVo expands patent suit to include Bell

News | January 31, 2018

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