TVI vs. Microsoft Patent Infringement Case Settled

On October 7th, 2005, a pre-trial settlement was reached in the TVI vs. Microsoft patent infringement case. The settlement came just a week before a jury trial was scheduled to start. The terms of the settlement are confidential. A formal settlement agreement which includes a license for Autoplay, was signed on October 28th, in Los Angeles.

Most of the proceeds of the settlement will be paid out to TVI shareholders as a dividend. Dividend checks are expected to be sent out in the last week of December 2005.

Tentative Ruling on Damages in Favor of TVI

On June 17th, Judge White ruled tentatitively in favor of TVI on all the damages issues (including willful infringement and pre-suit damages). He has said that we can expect a final ruling sometime soon.

Below are comments from David Ron, TVI's former CFO, who attended the hearing.

"The hearing was focused on points of law (not a discussion of facts) that MS was hoping would reduce the potential damages. Right at the start, Judge White made some interesting comments. Since a representative from Microsoft was there, the Judge addressed MS and said that their lawyers have done an excellent job in preparing excellent briefs and arguments. That MS should be aware that they are getting excellent representation, but they should know that they have lost all along not because of the quality of their lawyers but because they didn't have the law with them in this case. I thought this was HUGE!

Then he said to TVI's counsel... you have done an excellent job as well, but mostly as an afterthought, since he was trying to make MS feel good about their lawyers even though they have been losing.

Much of the day centered around wilful vs induced infringement. MS tried to make an argument that even though their lawyers had copies of TVI's patents that they couldnt have known of their importance, or that just because they had one patent in the "family" of patents that that didnt mean they had full knowledge. Our counsel argued againust this quite well, and I think Judge White will rule on TVI's behalf (just my partial opinion). Then they argued about if MS had any "actual" knowledge of TVI's patents. Rick Martinez pointed them to the 18 hours of billable time from their outside counsel in Jan 99 where they did a review of the TVI patents, and then amended the MS patents as a result."

Ron Schutz to Speak at Silicon Valley ACG in October

Ron Schutz, chairman of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, the law firm representing TVI against Microsoft is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the October 13th meeting of the Silicon Valley Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). The title of the keynote speach will be "Patent Litigation: Big Changes on the Horizon". To register for the event, please go to www.acteve.com/go/acgsv.

Damages Hearing Rescheduled

Judge White rescheduled the damages hearing to June 17th.

Judge White Denies Microsoft's Motion

Judge White denied Microsoft's motion for certification for an interlocutory (i.e. before final judgment) appeal by order of today, April 26. This means that the trial that is scheduled for October 24th, 2005 will be able to proceed without delay.

Trial Date is Set

Judge White has set a trial date in the TVI vs. Microsoft case for October 24, 2005.

Damages Hearing Scheduled for June 3

The judge rescheduled the hearing about damages from April 1 to June 3. I found out that the judge's law clerk had a baby in December and went on maternity leave, which may explain the delay.

A case management conference to set a new trial date has been scheduled for April 22. We expect the judge to give us a trial date shortly after the June 3 hearing date.

TVI's Lawyers Get Top Awards

Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP (RKMC), the law firm representing TVI in it's patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft, keeps on winning top recognition.

In January 2004 RKMC received the prestigious "Litigation Department of the Year" award from the IP Law&Business Magazine and the American Lawyer Magazine. And now, in February of 2005, Ron Schutz, the lead RKMC attorney on the TVI vs. Microsoft case was recognized as the "Attorney of the Year" by the Minnesota Lawyer Magazine.

Appeals Court Ruling in Eolas Case Helps TVI

A federal appeals court reversed parts of a $521 million patent ruling against Microsoft on Wednesday, giving Microsoft another chance to prove that its Web browser didn't illegally copy a key piece of technology developed by Eolas Technologies and the University of California. In their decision, the appeals court also ruled that Microsoft’s foreign sales must be applied to the calculation of damages. This new law helps TVI’s patent infringement case against Microsoft because on April 1^st, the court will hear Microsoft’s summary judgment against TVI on this exact issue.