Appeals Court Blocks EchoStar DVR Injunction

ENGLEWOOD, August 18: The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals
in Washington D.C. has temporarily blocked an injunction against EchoStar that
would have stopped it from rolling out digital video recorders to its subscribers.

The injunction was issued yesterday when a Texas court
granted a motion brought by DVR pioneer TiVo. The injunction stemmed from
TiVo’s patent infringement suit against EchoStar, and would have prevented the
platform from offering the following models of its DVR: DP-501, DP-508, DP-510,
DP-721, DP-921, DP-522, DP-625, DP-942, “and all EchoStar DVRs that are not
more than colorably different from any of these products.” The injunction also
mandated that infringing DVRs in consumer homes must be shut off within 30
days.

U.S. District Court Judge David Folsom also ordered EchoStar
to pay TiVo approximately $73.992 million in damages as awarded by the jury,
prejudgment interest of approximately $5.638 million, and supplemental damages
for infringement through July 31, 2006, in the amount of approximately $10.317
million.

TiVo sued EchoStar in Federal District Court on January 5,
2004, alleging that ECC was violating its "Time Warp" patent, which
allows for capabilities such as pausing live television, fast-forwarding,
rewinding, instant replays, and slow motion. On April 13, 2006, a Texas jury
concluded that EchoStar had willfully infringed TiVo's Time Warp patent.

In announcing the block by the Court of Appeals, EchoStar
noted, “We continue to believe the Texas decision was wrong, and should be
reversed on appeal. We also continue to work on modifications to our new DVRs,
and to our DVRs in the field, intended to avoid future alleged
infringement."

TiVo yesterday hailed Folsom’s decision: “This decision
recognizes that our intellectual property is valuable and will ensure that
moving forward EchoStar will be unable to use our patented technology without
our authorization.”