Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) decided to dismiss a patent from its own case against TiVo, reducing its patent claims against the video recording company from six to one.
In a court document it filed last Friday, the telco said it was "dismissing U.S. Patent 6,367,078 from the case, which would prevent it from later asserting the patent against TiVo."
Ed McFadden, a Verizon spokesman, said this filing is just part of an ongoing process.
"The filing today doesn't affect the substance of Verizon's case or our likelihood of success. These were simply procedural steps," McFadden told Reuters.
TiVo would not comment on Verizon's latest court action.
Previously, TiVo filed a lawsuit against both Verizon and fellow ILEC AT&T (NYSE: T), claiming the pair infringed on its TV "time-warping" technology.
AT&T this January reached a settlement with TiVo where it would be required to pay the video recorder company a minimum of $215 million and additional monthly licensing fees through through June 2018.
Besides AT&T and Verizon, TiVo has been entangled in similar legal disputes over its video recording technology with satellite providers Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) and Echostar (Nasdaq: SATS), which agreed to a $500 million patent settlement in May.
For more:
- Reuters has this article
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