Here is another classic example of the Intellectual Property impacting the Share prices. The recent the long-running TiVo patent litigation against DISH and sister company Echostar (SATS) alleging violation of TiVO’s DVR patents by Dish DVRs.
The U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit has granted a request by DISH and SATS for a rehearing en banc - meaning a hearing by all the judges of the circuit, and just the smaller panel that heard the original appeal - of a previous appeals court ruling that had been highly favorable to TiVo. The court today vacated a March 4 Appeals Court ruling which had upheld a district court decision that had found SATS and DISH in contempt of court of a previous ruling that found DISH had violated TiVo’s DVR patents.
The four-page ruling by the court asks the two sides to file new briefs on four issues:
* “Following a finding of infringement by an accused device at trial, under what circumstances is it proper for a district court to determine infringement by a newly accused device through contempt proceedings rather than through new infringement proceedings? What burden of proof is required to establish that a contempt proceeding is proper?”
* “How does ‘fair ground of doubt as to the wrongfulness of the defendant’s conduct’ compare with the ‘more than colorable differences’ or ’substantial open issues of infringement’ tests in evaluating the newly accused device against the adjudged infringing device?”
* “Where a contempt proceeding is proper, (1) what burden of proof is on the patentee to show that the newly accused device infringes and (2) what weight should be given to the infringer’s efforts to design around the patent and its reasonable and good faith belief of non-infringement by the new device, for a finding of contempt?”
* “Is it proper for a district court to hold an enjoined party in contempt where there is a substantial question as to whether the injunction is ambiguous in scope?”
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