Crow 492
03-31-2006, 08:45 PM
Testimony continues in TiVo trial
By SANDRA CASON
Cox News Service
Friday, March 31, 2006
MARSHALL, Texas — A former Texas professor testified Thursday in federal district court that EchoStar infringed on television technology patented by TiVo.
Jerry Gibson was called as an expert witness by TiVo in a case that could impact the cost of television set-top boxes in the future.
Gibson took the stand on the second afternoon of the trial being heard by a five-man, five-woman local jury in U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Texas. EchoStar attorneys said they expect TiVo to seek at least $100 million in damages.
Testimony continues today.
Gibson took the stand after TiVo co-inventor Jim Barton completed his testimony. The first witness called by plaintiffs' attorneys was co-founder of the company, Michael Ramsay.
Gibson, a professor of electrical engineering in Santa Barbara, Calif., said he evaluated six set-top boxes manufactured by EchoStar with an eye to discovering similarities between them and the "Barton
time warp patent."
Responding to questions from Andrei Iancu, Gibson said he examined a number of EchoStar boxes and found they are similar to 11 claims of their equipment's capability made by TiVo inventors in their patent.
Iancu is a member of the Los Angeles, Calif., law firm Irell & Manella.
Gibson said he prepared "tutorials" for lawyers trying the case and also assisted in preparation of a series of animated slides shown to the jury during his testimony.
These explained how a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) works, and showed how the system is able to re-play live television. Gibson used an on-screen presentation of a touchdown pass made by the Dallas Cowboys in a win over Philadelphia this past season.
"I'm a Cowboys fan," he said.
In listing his qualifications to testify regarding television patent infringement, Gibson said he completed an undergraduate degree in engineering at University of Texas at Austin and received a master's degree and doctorate from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
In addition, Gibson said he taught at Texas A&M University from 1976 to 1997 and was chairman of the electrical engineering department at SMU.
Gibson said he has done research in multi-media compressions — a system known as Mpeg, (motion picture experts group).
The media switch Barton claims he invented is the technology required to make a DVR "viable," Gibson said. The reason is that TiVo's "media switch off-loads the Central Processing Unit (CPU) so it won't have to handle all that data," a move which lowers the cost of the set-top box.
Before Gibson began his testimony, presiding Judge David Folsom told jurors he had ruled "copying is not an issue in this case."
Noting the ruling would later be submitted in writing, Folsom also said the jury could make a finding of patent infringement even if EchoStar did not copy the TiVo box.
Responding to questions from TiVo attorney Morgan Chu, Barton indicated just that, however, and his testimony was interrupted by objections from EchoStar attorney Rachel Krevans, a partner in the San Francisco, Calif., firm of Morrison Foerster.
Barton began his testimony Thursday morning by holding up an "official copy" of the patent for his "multi-media time warping system."
The announcement that it had been granted by the U.S. Patent Office generated "a great deal of excitement among our investors," he said. "Our stock doubled in price the next day.
"We had hoped we'd be wildly successful, but a number of things conspired to delay" that, he added. He referred to the "nuclear winter in Silicon Valley" during which "money dried up.
"In Silicon Valley, people are not paid very well at all," Barton said. "The pay-off comes when what you invent goes public and stock options improve."
When he left Bell Laboratories after beginning his career there as an entry-level engineer, Barton said he and Ramsay in August 1997 formed the company today known as TiVo.
Early on, he testified, he took "a prototype" of his invention to EchoStar in the hopes of negotiating a business deal. The company's chief executive officer asked Barton to leave the box with them and promised to return it the next day.
"Rather naively, perhaps, we left it," Barton said. "I don't ever remember seeing that prototype again."
On a second meeting, requested by EchoStar engineers, Barton said "we actually opened up our boxes and show them how they worked. We had a rather animated discussion. We were engineers and we wanted to
show off our work."
At the time of the first session, Barton said the TiVo system had not yet been patented, a situation that had changed by the second meeting.
Barton said the purpose of the meetings with EchoStar was "in support of the fact that we had what it took to be a viable partner in delivering a product to their customers."
While he said he never threatened the company with a lawsuit, "we mentioned we were very vigorously pursuing patents."
Of court action, Barton added: "I've always been disappointed we didn't move sooner" against those thought to be "stealing our technology."
Over objections of defense lawyers, Barton showed the jury the main circuit board of the media switch, which he claims to have invented.
Holding it up, he pointed out "the smiley TiVo face."
"The overarching principle (of the TiVo box) is that the costs were lower because it needed less memory. The design was cheaper and we could actually sell it to real people out there in the market."
Barton said his invention can perform "trick plays," like fast-forwarding and freeze-framing. "Trick plays is a generic term we use to describe anything other than normal TV watching," he explained.
"It's all about you sitting in front of the TV and getting all the enjoyment you can," Barton added.
In opening statements Wednesday, EchoStar attorney Harold J. McElhinny said TiVo planned to ask for "at least $100 million" in damages.
In addition to what it might receive for patent infringement, if the jury finds for TiVo, it could sue cable companies that offer other set-top boxes, or at least force them to pay licensing fees, according to The Associated Press.
EchoStar, which operates Dish Satellite Network, earned $1.5 billion on sales of $8.4 billion last year, while TiVo has never shown a profit. Its 2005 sales were $172 million, AP said.
EchoStar has filed a countersuit, scheduled for trial next year in Texarkana's federal court.
Sandra Cason writes for the Marshall News Messenger.
By SANDRA CASON
Cox News Service
Friday, March 31, 2006
MARSHALL, Texas — A former Texas professor testified Thursday in federal district court that EchoStar infringed on television technology patented by TiVo.
Jerry Gibson was called as an expert witness by TiVo in a case that could impact the cost of television set-top boxes in the future.
Gibson took the stand on the second afternoon of the trial being heard by a five-man, five-woman local jury in U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Texas. EchoStar attorneys said they expect TiVo to seek at least $100 million in damages.
Testimony continues today.
Gibson took the stand after TiVo co-inventor Jim Barton completed his testimony. The first witness called by plaintiffs' attorneys was co-founder of the company, Michael Ramsay.
Gibson, a professor of electrical engineering in Santa Barbara, Calif., said he evaluated six set-top boxes manufactured by EchoStar with an eye to discovering similarities between them and the "Barton
time warp patent."
Responding to questions from Andrei Iancu, Gibson said he examined a number of EchoStar boxes and found they are similar to 11 claims of their equipment's capability made by TiVo inventors in their patent.
Iancu is a member of the Los Angeles, Calif., law firm Irell & Manella.
Gibson said he prepared "tutorials" for lawyers trying the case and also assisted in preparation of a series of animated slides shown to the jury during his testimony.
These explained how a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) works, and showed how the system is able to re-play live television. Gibson used an on-screen presentation of a touchdown pass made by the Dallas Cowboys in a win over Philadelphia this past season.
"I'm a Cowboys fan," he said.
In listing his qualifications to testify regarding television patent infringement, Gibson said he completed an undergraduate degree in engineering at University of Texas at Austin and received a master's degree and doctorate from Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
In addition, Gibson said he taught at Texas A&M University from 1976 to 1997 and was chairman of the electrical engineering department at SMU.
Gibson said he has done research in multi-media compressions — a system known as Mpeg, (motion picture experts group).
The media switch Barton claims he invented is the technology required to make a DVR "viable," Gibson said. The reason is that TiVo's "media switch off-loads the Central Processing Unit (CPU) so it won't have to handle all that data," a move which lowers the cost of the set-top box.
Before Gibson began his testimony, presiding Judge David Folsom told jurors he had ruled "copying is not an issue in this case."
Noting the ruling would later be submitted in writing, Folsom also said the jury could make a finding of patent infringement even if EchoStar did not copy the TiVo box.
Responding to questions from TiVo attorney Morgan Chu, Barton indicated just that, however, and his testimony was interrupted by objections from EchoStar attorney Rachel Krevans, a partner in the San Francisco, Calif., firm of Morrison Foerster.
Barton began his testimony Thursday morning by holding up an "official copy" of the patent for his "multi-media time warping system."
The announcement that it had been granted by the U.S. Patent Office generated "a great deal of excitement among our investors," he said. "Our stock doubled in price the next day.
"We had hoped we'd be wildly successful, but a number of things conspired to delay" that, he added. He referred to the "nuclear winter in Silicon Valley" during which "money dried up.
"In Silicon Valley, people are not paid very well at all," Barton said. "The pay-off comes when what you invent goes public and stock options improve."
When he left Bell Laboratories after beginning his career there as an entry-level engineer, Barton said he and Ramsay in August 1997 formed the company today known as TiVo.
Early on, he testified, he took "a prototype" of his invention to EchoStar in the hopes of negotiating a business deal. The company's chief executive officer asked Barton to leave the box with them and promised to return it the next day.
"Rather naively, perhaps, we left it," Barton said. "I don't ever remember seeing that prototype again."
On a second meeting, requested by EchoStar engineers, Barton said "we actually opened up our boxes and show them how they worked. We had a rather animated discussion. We were engineers and we wanted to
show off our work."
At the time of the first session, Barton said the TiVo system had not yet been patented, a situation that had changed by the second meeting.
Barton said the purpose of the meetings with EchoStar was "in support of the fact that we had what it took to be a viable partner in delivering a product to their customers."
While he said he never threatened the company with a lawsuit, "we mentioned we were very vigorously pursuing patents."
Of court action, Barton added: "I've always been disappointed we didn't move sooner" against those thought to be "stealing our technology."
Over objections of defense lawyers, Barton showed the jury the main circuit board of the media switch, which he claims to have invented.
Holding it up, he pointed out "the smiley TiVo face."
"The overarching principle (of the TiVo box) is that the costs were lower because it needed less memory. The design was cheaper and we could actually sell it to real people out there in the market."
Barton said his invention can perform "trick plays," like fast-forwarding and freeze-framing. "Trick plays is a generic term we use to describe anything other than normal TV watching," he explained.
"It's all about you sitting in front of the TV and getting all the enjoyment you can," Barton added.
In opening statements Wednesday, EchoStar attorney Harold J. McElhinny said TiVo planned to ask for "at least $100 million" in damages.
In addition to what it might receive for patent infringement, if the jury finds for TiVo, it could sue cable companies that offer other set-top boxes, or at least force them to pay licensing fees, according to The Associated Press.
EchoStar, which operates Dish Satellite Network, earned $1.5 billion on sales of $8.4 billion last year, while TiVo has never shown a profit. Its 2005 sales were $172 million, AP said.
EchoStar has filed a countersuit, scheduled for trial next year in Texarkana's federal court.
Sandra Cason writes for the Marshall News Messenger.