Can't believe that if Echostar really did "steal" Tivo technology that Charlie would let it get this far. He would have settled before the trial for a lot less money. But as things are at the moment, despite the doom and gloom from the press, the very same press that said Dish would never make it off the ground, then said he would go out of business any day now (back in 1996), then said he would never make a profit before going out of business because Direct TV was somehow more superior, despite all that (and the little reported fact that Direct TV just lost a similar type of lawsuit from a small company claiming Direct uses its patended technology to deliver data to Direct's satellites) again, despite all that, while it may not be the best moment out there in Englewood, it really won't be that big of an impact longterm.
If the court decides within the next few weeks to allow the injuction regarding Tivo to move forward during the appeals process, then Dish will have to settle or, perhaps, even buy Tivo. Eiter way, the DVR's are not going dark. Ergen could get a surprisingly decent settlement for "lifetime" license to the disputed Tivo technology.
But since that would cost millions, spend millions more to control Tivo and get the licensing that way and be in control of the technology that some cable companies and Direct TV (to a lesser degree) rely upon. Can you imagine the slow software roll-outs and apparant lack of support from Tivo (owned by Echostar) to some of Charlie's biggest competitors? It would be a role reversal of the infamous Microsoft "can't move slow enough" attitude regarding Dish's model 7000. And it could be worth every pennie. Ergan making lemonade from lemons. He has done that all his savvy career.
