Advanced Television

Virgin claims patent victory over Rovi

May 15, 2014

Virgin Media has scored another win over Rovi in its series of patent disputes. Of the seven that have come to court so far, all have received judgment in favour of Virgin.

The latest patent invalidated – the “superimposed program information” patent – covered the sending of two specific signals to a TV or STB. One signal results in a superimposed information prompt on-screen and the other provides the actual information. The judge found this concept is obvious and the patent invalid.

Brigitte Trafford, chief corporate affairs officer at Virgin Media, commented: “Rovi’s patent claims continue to be found invalid. The court today dismissed all elements of Rovi’s patent and we believe none of these claims should ever have been brought. This approach is proving to be expensive for Rovi as they continue to lose in court.”

Samir Armaly, executive VP of worldwide intellectual property and licensing for Rovi, commented: “We are disappointed by the court’s ruling today and will evaluate our opportunity for appeal.  Based on historical UK court statistics, we understood that any patent litigation in the UK could be challenging and protracted. That said this decision covers just one of the patents in Rovi’s extensive worldwide portfolio and we have several other patent trials pending with Virgin. We remain committed to defending our valuable intellectual property from ongoing infringement, and protecting the rights and interests of our existing patent licensees in the UK, and are confident that we will ultimately prevail.”

Categories: Articles, Policy, Regulation