UPDATE: AT&T Agrees To Pay TiVo At Least $215 Million For Patents
January 03 2012 - 8:34PM
Dow Jones News
TiVo Inc. (TIVO) scored another major patent victory as AT&T
Inc. (T) agreed to pay the set-top box maker at least $215 million
to settle litigation and acquire rights to use TiVo's intellectual
property.
The settlement, announced Tuesday, marks the latest gain from a
string of lawsuits brought by the Alviso, Calif., company. TiVo, a
pioneer in devices known as digital video recorders, or DVRs, has
long accused many of its rivals of violating its patents.
TiVo shares leapt 13.2% to $10.10 after hours Tuesday, while
AT&T rose 6 cents to $30.44.
Tom Rogers, TiVo's chief executive, said the settlement both
underscored the value of his company's intellectual property while
also avoiding the "significant legal expenses" that would come from
a trial.
"People will begin to view our intellectual property value with
some greater predictability," he said.
Under the terms of the settlement, AT&T agreed to pay TiVo
$51 million upfront and $164 million in guaranteed payments through
July 2018. AT&T will also pay incremental license fees based on
subscriber numbers through that time should its own DVR subscriber
base exceed certain levels, TiVo said.
AT&T declined to comment.
The patent-licensing agreement between TiVo and AT&T settles
all outstanding litigation between the companies, which will
cross-license each other's advanced-TV patents. It ends another
legal dispute over the technology at the core of TiVo's
business.
TiVo has been embroiled in patent lawsuits over its digital
recording technology for years. The company originally sued Dish
Network Corp. (DISH) and EchoStar Corp. (SATS) in 2004, claiming
the companies infringed on its "time warp" technology, which allows
customers to pause, rewind and fast forward through live television
that is simultaneously recorded on a specialized device. Dish and
EchoStar agreed to pay TiVo $500 million to settle the lawsuit last
May, ending the seven-year-long patent dispute.
Alan Gould, an analyst at Evercore Partners, said the relative
speed at which the agreement was made--TiVo's lawsuit with AT&T
was roughly two years old--bodes well for its ongoing legal tussles
with Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Motorola Mobility
Holdings Inc. (MMI).
"TiVo has agreements with two major players, both using the same
patents," Gould said, referring to TiVo's "time-warp" recording
technology.
The company's recent legal successes come as its set-top-box
product has also begun to rebound. In November, the company said it
broke a four-year streak of declining subscriber numbers in its
fiscal third quarter. The company said it added a net 117,000
subscribers compared with a loss of 112,000 a year earlier. The
company said many of those subscribers were the result of
partnerships with cable and satellite companies that began offering
TiVo technology to their customers.
-By Ian Sherr, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6455;
ian.sherr@dowjones.com
--Drew FitzGerald contributed to this report.
Marcus and Millichap (NYSE:MMI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024
Marcus and Millichap (NYSE:MMI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024