Following up on the earlier entry about the TiVO EchoStar lawsuit , the jury has decided in favor of TiVo. Let the appeals begin.

ARS Technica's, Ken Fisher wrote

TiVo has emerged victorious in their patent lawsuit against EchoStar. The jury in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has awarded TiVo US $73 million in damages. The sum falls $16 million shy of the damages originally sought by the company, but in this instance the win may be worth more than the winnings.

In Marshall, Texas a jury is being asked to decide if EchoStar Communication's DVR infringes on TiVo patents. In particular, TiVo accuses "the parent of Dish Network, the nation's second-largest satellite TV operator, of stealing its technology for recording, pausing and fast-forwarding live television programs." Maybe TiVo will win. I hope so. They make an exceptional product and I'd hate to see it go the way of Betamax.

Forwarding, rewinding and pausing live TV are not the coolest things TiVo does. Something no one else has apparently attempted that TiVo does quite well, is to suggest programs that the viewer might enjoy based on previous selections. The TiVo remote has 'Thumbs Up' and 'Thumbs Down' buttons so the viewer can indicate if the program is enjoyable or not. As the history of indicated viewer preferences grows, TiVo gets better and better at suggesting other programs. For example, I like Xena, Warrior Princess and TiVo has on occasion suggested programs which featured Lucy Lawless. Makes sense to me.

TiVo has also made some progress converting my TV into a digital media server. As I a write this I am listening to a cut from Exile on Main Street by The Rolling Stones courtesy of a feed from Live365 piping through my TiVo box into my TV.

There are a few hundred pictures of my friends and family on a computer upstairs that my TiVo box can display via a wireless network connection to the PC. It can find and play files in the 'My Music' folder, too. Linux-based TiVo is one smart box. It has converted my TV into the monitor and speakers for my computer's digital media. Everything old is new again, especially if you remember connecting a Commodore 64 to the TV.

It is impossible for someone like me to predict TiVo's chances in their case against EchoStar and to tell the truth parts of the proceedings make the whole affair sound a little fishy to me. James M. Barton (a TiVo founder) said "he showed EchoStar officials a prototype of a TiVo box, and accidentally left it at EchoStar's Colorado offices." I suppose it depends on what the meaning of the word 'accidentally' is.

DirecTV, currently TiVo's biggest customer, plans to switch to another DVR maker next year but TiVo signed a deal with the nation's largest cable operator, Comcast Corp. So hopefully, TiVo will be around for a good long while yet. And if they win this case down in Marshall, Texas all the better.

of the 3 million DVRs in the US about 1 million use the TiVo service