US judge delays EchoStar lawsuit against TiVo

A US federal judge has handed the owner of the Dish satellite TV network another setback in its feud with TiVo, delaying a countersuit against the pioneer in digital video recording technology, an Associated Press report said.

The report said US magistrate judge Caroline M. Craven of Texarkana blocked EchoStar Communications' patent-infringement lawsuit against TiVo and Humax USA while the US Patent and Trademark Office reviewed patents claimed by EchoStar.

Craven, who issued the stay last month, made it final when EchoStar declined to appeal, TiVo spokesman Elliot Sloane said.

TiVo sued EchoStar in 2004. In April, a jury in Marshall found that EchoStar had infringed on a TiVo patent in making its own set-top box with DVR capabilities, the report said.

This month, the judge who presided over that trial ordered EchoStar to pay $89.6 million in damages, more than the jury had awarded.

The trial judge, David Folsom, also ordered EchoStar to disable more than 3 million of its DVRs that jurors found used elements of TiVo technology, but a federal appeals court this month delayed Folsom's order while the case was appealed, the report said.