A few weeks a jury in U.S. Federal Court in Utah has decided that DISH must pay $469 million over its commercial-skipping technology that infringed on two different patents. Now a judge has ruled in DISH’s favor overturning the jury ruling and saying DISH did not infringe on ClearPlay’s patents.
In a statement sent to Cord Cutters News, DISH said, “Earlier today, the judge in the ClearPlay v. DISH Network case ruled orally that he will grant DISH’s Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law. The ruling (sometimes called a directed verdict) means that the Court determined that ClearPlay failed to put on sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that DISH infringed the asserted patent claims. As a result, the jury’s March 10, 2023 verdict and damages award are moot. DISH has stood firm in its belief that it did not infringe ClearPlay’s patents, and is gratified by the Court’s ruling.”
This is a huge win for DISH and anyone looking at offering commercial skipping.
This lawsuit first started back in 2014 over the AutoHop feature on DISH DVRs. Now after a very long fight back and forth, DISH was found to be in violation of ClearPlay’s patents.
No word yet on what is next but for now DISH has a major victory in this case and its efforts to offer commercial skipping.