A federal judge in California has granted TiVo Inc.'s (TIVO) request to delay a patent-dispute lawsuit filed against it by AT&T Inc. (T) pending a re-examination of AT&T's patents.

In March 2010, AT&T sued the Alviso, Calif., maker of digital video recorders, or DVRs, claiming its television set-top-boxes infringed on AT&T patents for managing digital recordings.

On Tuesday, Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong said that delaying the proceedings until the United States Patent and Trademark Office makes a ruling will narrow the issues at trial, according to a court document.

AT&T declined to comment. TiVo Chief Executive Tom Rogers acknowledged the court's ruling but did not elaborate on it.

The court's stay is the latest development in a series of lawsuits between TiVo and other digital video recording device makers, such as Dish Network Corp. (DISH), EchoStar Corp. (SATS) and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (MMI). TiVo is vulnerable because the issues being disputed in the lawsuits are the technologies at the core of its business.

In August 2009, TiVo filed lawsuits against AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) alleging their digital video recorders illegally used its "time-warp" feature. Separately, TiVo has sought agreements with other companies, including Comcast Corp. (CMCSK, CMCSA) and DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV).

TiVo shares were up 0.2% to $9.84 in after-hours trading while AT&T shares slipped 0.2% to $28.02.

-By Ian Sherr and Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6455; ian.sherr@dowjones.com
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