Comcast Slapped With Patent Infringement Charges By TiVo

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) , the leading cable multi-service operator (MSO) in the U.S., has been reportedly slapped with patent infringement charges by TiVo Corporation (NASDAQ:TIVO) in relation to its X1 platform. The suit claims that Comcast’s X1 set-top boxes are infringing on at least eight of the patents, which are held by Rovi Corp.

TiVo was acquired by Rovi in 2016 and the merged entity is known as TiVo, which attained ownership over more than 6,000 patents.

The patents that TiVo is using to accuse Comcast include features like pausing and resuming programs on multiple devices, DVR recording and additional advanced DVR features, advanced search and voice functionality, and restarting live shows, among others. Two cases were filled by the company, one in a California federal court and another in Massachusetts.

Troubles for Comcast do not end here. Rovi plans to file an additional legal action against Comcast over the same patents with the U.S. International Trade commission (ITC). In fact, it will be seeking an exclusion order from the ITC to stop Comcast from importing X1 set-top boxes with the allegedly infringing technologies.

Notably, this is not the first time that the companies have been engaged in such legal brawls. In November 2017, the ITC had ordered an import ban on Comcast’s X1 boxes for violating two of TiVo’s patents.

Let’s wait and see in whose favor the decision turns out this time.

Similar Patent Suits

Patent licensing disputes arenot new in the United States.

The most hyped-up dispute in the industry is the $1 billion lawsuit related to licensing royalty payments, filed by Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) against Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) , in January 2017. The battle is still on with a series of counter attacks from either sides and is getting uglier day-by-day.

On Nov 30, 2017, Qualcomm filed three new patent infringement complaints against Apple. Per Qualcomm, another 16 of its patents were being used by Apple in its iPhones. Notably, the three cases were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego. This was in response to Apple’s counterattack against Qualcomm on Nov 29, 2017.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Comcast carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Comcast portrays an impressive price performance. In a year’s time, shares of the company rallied 17.0% compared with the industry’s gain of 10.7%.

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