Of all the lawsuits to fly lately, Microsoft v. TiVo sure seems like an odd one. But there is a reason for it, an important product at the heart of the issue, and quite possibly, a third party involved. Datamation has the details.
Microsoft sued TiVo on Tuesday, claiming the smaller company is violating two of its patents related to personal digital video recorders (DVR).
The move by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) appears at least in part to be a response to a suit that TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO), which invented the first commercial DVR, brought against AT&T (NYSE: T) and its U-verse Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service last August.
Although Microsoft is not named in TiVo’s suit against AT&T, Microsoft’s Mediaroom software lies at the heart of U-verse.
“Mediaroom today is available to over four million users around the globe, four million users enjoying every day the TV service on their set-top boxes with the Mediaroom software that’s offered by leading providers like AT&T U-verse in the U.S.,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the audience earlier this month during his opening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
