Rovi, the Company who loves threatening Australian TV stations with legal action and is the same Company who claims that they own the words ”TV Guide” has lost another patent battle, this time up against Internet streaming Company Netflix.
A US Trade Commission Judge has found that Netflix has not infringed on Rovi Corporation patents for interactive television program guides.
Late last year we revealed that Rovi accused several companies including Foxtel of infringing on its patents for on-screen guides for TV listings.
They also had a crack at several TV Companies who used ‘”Guide Layouts” including LG, Mitsubishi and Samsung.
LG Electronics and its subsidiaries settled with Rovi, as did Mitsubishi Electric.
ITC Judge David Shaw declared one of the Rovi patents invalid but said the other three were valid.
Netflix had been accused of infringing on four Rovi patents but was found innocent in all cases.
In a statement, Rovi management said “We are pleased that the majority of the patents involved were confirmed valid,” Samir Armaly, a Rovi executive vice president of worldwide intellectual property, said in a statement. “We will continue to seek to license companies to the technologies that we’ve developed and to protect our intellectual property from unlicensed use.”
Netflix said only that it was “pleased with the initial determination and look(s) forward to the full commission confirming it.”
