With intellectual property questions taking a larger portion of Internet-related discussions in the last couple of years, this move should keep people talking: digital video recorder TiVo bought six patents tied to audience research and measurement, integrating television signals to Internet access, and more, from IBM at the end of March.
In a statement, TiVo spokesman David Shane said the company has "placed great emphasis on developing and protecting our intellectual property, and we believe these patents will help us toward that end."
The patents are also said to cover automatic rescheduling of recordings, content screening, enhanced program information search, and electronic program guide interface enhancements. The IBM deal follows TiVo’s receiving of five patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, raising TiVo's total patent grants to 76, with a reported 106 still pending, according to several reports.
TiVo filed a report April 6 with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealing the patent purchase and expiration dates (between the end of 2015 and early 2020), but details about the financial side of the deal have not been disclosed just yet.
Analysts are said to believe that TiVo's overall patent portfolio provides potential muscle in an ongoing patent infringement battle with satellite TV company EchoStar Communications, which TiVo sued more than a year ago, charging EchoStar and its affiliates with infringing on TiVo's time-warping patent.
TiVo's SEC filing came on the same day the company extended its relationship with DirecTV, TiVo's biggest new subscriber source. The IBM patent deal came a few weeks after TiVo won a contract to provide digital video recording technology to Comcast, the U.S.'s top cable television operator.
