I tried to update this thread but not able to, so decided to open a new thread.
A most recent ruling on 3/31/09 by the DE court dismssed
TiVo's motion to dismiss the E*'s new lawsuit against
TiVo, and in that ruling the DE judge rebutted every one of
TiVo's arguments:
1) Based on E*'s new design evidence, the judge told
TiVo no, he could not agree with
TiVo that the difference was only colorable, but
TiVo should have the opportunity for a full discovery and try to prove E*'s evidence was false or not accurate. Now we have the full discovery and E*'s new design evidence still stands, we'll find out how successful
TiVo did to prove the evidence is false or inaccurate.
2) The DE judge told
TiVo, no, E*'s new lawsuit is not "forum shopping."
3) The DE judge also told
TiVo, E*'s design around effort should be encouraged by the court, therefore he could not agree it had a "chilling effect" on
TiVo's business, as
TiVo argued.
This 3rd opinion has some implication in future proceedings, for example, if, and only if E* is found in contempt, meaning E*'s design around is found unsuccessful,
TiVo will not be able to argue that E* did so in bad faith, or was trying to fool the court, or trying to "chill"
TiVo's business, because another judge had said E*'s such design around effort should be encouraged. Of course if the first attempt is encouraged, E* can argue they should be encouraged if they try again
Now keep in mind that the above assumed E*'s design around failed, but in my opinion they had clearly succeeded.
Here is the latest
TiVo's net income finincial filing:
31-Jan-0931-Oct-0831-Jul-0830-Apr-08
($3,567)$100,580 $2,942 $3,637
Notice the downward trend, and the $100M they got from E*, after a two-year delay. It sure appears that money from E* may be the only future for
TiVo. Let's wait and see how bright this future will be for
TiVo.
