[mythtv-users] TiVo's Future May Hinge on Patent Case

[Brian Wood]

On Apr 7, 2006, at 1:10 PM, Steven Adeff wrote:

> On 4/7/06, Marco Nelissen <marcone at xs4all.nl> wrote:
>>>> The article sure didn't make it sound like tivo was trying to  
>>>> sue echostar
>>>> out of existence. And if they *were* trying, they should go for  
>>>> a larger
>>>> settlement. $100 million is not going to put a $13 billion  
>>>> company out
>>>> of business.
>>>
>>> no, but they are trying to take them out of the DVR business...
>>
>> If by that you mean "trying to stop echostar from selling their  
>> own DVR
>> that infringes on tivo's patents without paying royalties", then  
>> you're
>> right. Otherwise, it seems like tivo is more than happy to let  
>> echostar
>> have their DVR, as long as they pay royalties.
>
> pretty much yea.  I meant it more along the lines of preventing
> echostar from developing and selling their own DVR.... that infringes
> on TiVo's patents without paying royalties.
>
> I used to like the TiVo company, but then I found out they make bad
> business decisions and can't keep pace with competition. The should of
> had an HD capable TiVo in 2004.
>
The thing that bothers me about them is that they released what  
source code they had to (apparently reluctantly) but they do  
everything in their power to prevent your being able to run modified  
code.

The experts say this is within the bounds of GPL-2, but by the skin  
of their teeth.

Apparently specific portions of GPL-3 were drafted for the sole  
purpose of preventing this kind of behavior in the future (see the  
Groklaw site for more info).

They are willing to take from the open source community but don't  
want to give anything back.