Is Tivo in trouble? First they win their lawsuit then it is stayed and now the patent that may be at the heart of the issue may be invalid. If true, can Tivo survive? "The patent in question is TiVo's "Multimedia Time Warping System," U.S. Patent No. 6,233,389, which describes a DVR system that allows for simultaneous storage and playback of TV programming from a cable or satellite source."
Of course, this action will lead to even more appeals and this case will be stuck in the courts for even more years. And while Tivo tries to keep up with the pace of innovation, cable operators have not embraced Tivo software and have remained true to their own DVR boxes. Cablevision keeps pushing a headend based DVR. And networks are putting more and more content on VOD. The DVR may soon become an unnecessary device. Tivo may be losing their competitive edge.
