Dish Network 2008 Annual Report Download - page 43

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33
Global Communications
On April 19, 2007, Global Communications, Inc. (“Global”) filed a patent infringement action against us in the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The suit alleges infringement of United States Patent
No. 6,947,702 (the ‘702 patent). This patent, which involves satellite reception, was issued in September 2005. On
October 24, 2007, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted our request for reexamination of the ‘702
patent and issued an Office Action finding that all of the claims of the ‘702 patent were invalid. At the request of
the parties, the District Court stayed the litigation until the reexamination proceeding is concluded and/or other
Global patent applications issue. We intend to vigorously defend this case. In the event that a Court ultimately
determines that we infringe the ‘702 patent, we may be subject to substantial damages, which may include treble
damages and/or an injunction that could require us to materially modify certain user-friendly features that we
currently offer to consumers. We cannot predict with any degree of certainty the outcome of the suit or determine
the extent of any potential liability or damages.
Guardian Media
On December 22, 2008, Guardian Media Technologies LTD (“Guardian”) filed suit against EchoStar Corporation,
EchoStar Technologies L.L.C., and several other defendants in the United States District Court for the Central
District of California alleging infringement of United States Patent Nos. 4,930,158 (the ‘158 patent) and 4,930,160
(the ‘160 patent). The ‘158 patent is entitled “Selective Video Playing System” and the ‘160 patent is entitled
“Automatic Censorship of Video Programs.” Both patents are expired and relate to certain parental lock features.
We intend to vigorously defend this case. In the event that a Court ultimately determines that we infringe any of the
asserted patents, we may be subject to substantial damages, which may include treble damages. We cannot predict
with any degree of certainty the outcome of the suit or determine the extent of any potential liability or damages.
Katz Communications
On June 21, 2007, Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. (“Katz”) filed a patent infringement action against us
in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit alleges infringement of 19
patents owned by Katz. The patents relate to interactive voice response, or IVR, technology. We intend to
vigorously defend this case. In the event that a Court ultimately determines that we infringe any of the asserted
patents, we may be subject to substantial damages, which may include treble damages and/or an injunction that
could require us to materially modify certain user-friendly features that we currently offer to consumers. We cannot
predict with any degree of certainty the outcome of the suit or determine the extent of any potential liability or
damages.
Multimedia Patent Trust
On February 13, 2009, Multimedia Patent Trust (“MPT”) filed suit against us, EchoStar and several other defendants
in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California alleging infringement of United States
Patent Nos. 4,958,226 entitled “Conditional Motion Compensated Interpolation Of Digital Motion Video,”
5,227,878 entitled “Adaptive Coding and Decoding of Frames and Fields of Video,” 5,136,377 entitled “Adaptive
Non-linear Quantizer,” 5,500,678 entitled “Optimized Scanning of Transform Coefficients in Video Coding,” and
5,563,593 entitled “Video Coding with Optimized Low Complexity Variable Length Codes.” The patents relate to
encoding and compression technology.
We intend to vigorously defend this case. In the event that a Court ultimately determines that we infringe any of
the asserted patents, we may be subject to substantial damages, which may include treble damages. We cannot
predict with any degree of certainty the outcome of the suit or determine the extent of any potential liability or
damages.