Virgin Media deals another patent blow to Rovi

UK-based telecoms company Virgin Media has secured another victory in its dispute with Rovi Corporation after the US technology business reportedly agreed to withdraw a patent lawsuit it had filed against Virgin.

Rovi had accused Virgin of infringing a patent centring on a method for making television recommendations to households based on what they had watched previously.

The lawsuit, concerning European patent 1,237,372 B2, and due to be heard later this year at the English High Court, will now be withdrawn, according to Virgin’s umbrella company Liberty Global.

In a statement, a Virgin Media spokesman told WIPR that “every Rovi patent to reach trial or final order in the UK so far has been found invalid”, with Rovi repeatedly ordered to reimburse the company.

Brigitte Trafford, chief corporate affairs officer at Virgin Media, added: “On this occasion even Rovi recognised their argument did not stand up to scrutiny. We will continue to fight such claims, as they should never have been brought.”

Rovi did not respond to a request for comment.

Virgin Media, a broadband and media subsidiary of the Virgin Group, and founded by UK entrepreneur Richard Branson, has been locked in a dispute with California-based Rovi dispute since 2009.

The company claimed Rovi’s withdrawal from the lawsuit, filed in 2012, was its ninth successful patent victory over its rival.

In July last year WIPR reported on another victory for Virgin Media. The dispute centred on technology enabling viewers to pause and resume programming on different set-top boxes.

Rovi claimed that Virgin Media’s TiVo box and the technology enabling users to pause a programme on one set-top box and resume it on another infringed a patent it owns.

But the claims were rejected at the English High Court by John Baldwin QC, who declared the patent invalid.

Virgin Media, Rovi Corporation, patent, patent infringement