In a fairly unexpected move, Tivo and Microsoft have decided to settle their lawsuits with eachother and move on.
According to a TiVo a regulatory filing Thursday, Microsoft agreed to dismiss all its pending litigation against TiVo, including action at the U.S. International Trade Commission and two cases in U.S. District Court in California’s Northern District. TiVo agreed to dismiss its counterclaim against Microsoft in that district court as well. No patent rights were granted to Microsoft by TiVo, according to the filing.
The lawsuits stemmed from AT&T filing a suit against Tivo in regards to how people buy and download movies. Since Microsoft’s partner,AT&T is no longer suing, Microsoft can back down. Now that Tivo is done with Microsoft, it can focus on it’s lawsuit against verizon for stealing their TV “time-warping” technology in their DVR’s. Evercore Partners analyst Alan Gould said the case could go before a jury in July.
Tivo was developed by Jim Barton and Mike Ramsay and was introduced to the world in 1999 in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of July 2011, TiVo’s market share shrunk to 1.93 million subscribers in the US, down from a peak of 4.36 million in January 2006.