Dish Network 2015 Annual Report Download - page 161

DISH NETWORK CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - Continued
F-57
California Institute of Technology
On October 1, 2013, the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”) filed complaints against us and our wholly-
owned subsidiaries DISH Network L.L.C. and dishNET Satellite Broadband L.L.C., as well as Hughes
Communications, Inc. and Hughes Network Systems, LLC, which are subsidiaries of EchoStar, in the United States
District Court for the Central District of California. The complaint alleges infringement of United States Patent Nos.
7,116,710; 7,421,032; 7,916,781 and 8,284,833, each of which is entitled “Serial Concatenation of Interleaved
Convolutional Codes forming Turbo-Like Codes.” Caltech alleges that encoding data as specified by the DVB-S2
standard infringes each of the asserted patents. In the operative Amended Complaint, served on March 6, 2014,
Caltech claims that our Hopper
®
set-top box, as well as the Hughes defendants’ satellite broadband products and
services, infringe the asserted patents by implementing the DVB-S2 standard. On May 5, 2015, the Court granted
summary judgment in our favor as to the Hopper set-top box alleged in the complaint. On February 17, 2015,
Caltech filed a new complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, asserting the
same patents against the same defendants. Caltech alleges that certain broadband equipment, including without
limitation the HT1000 and HT1100 modems, gateway hardware, software and/or firmware that the Hughes
defendants provide to, among others, us for our use in connection with the dishNET branded broadband service,
infringes these patents.
We intend to vigorously defend this case. In the event that a court ultimately determines that we infringe 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 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.
ClearPlay, Inc.
On March 13, 2014, ClearPlay, Inc. (“ClearPlay”) filed a complaint against us, our wholly-owned subsidiary DISH
Network L.L.C., EchoStar, and its wholly-owned subsidiary EchoStar Technologies L.L.C., in the United States
District Court for the District of Utah. The complaint alleges infringement of United States Patent Nos. 6,898,799,
entitled “Multimedia Content Navigation and Playback”; 7,526,784, entitled “Delivery of Navigation Data for
Playback of Audio and Video Content”; 7,543,318, entitled “Delivery of Navigation Data for Playback of Audio and
Video Content”; 7,577,970, entitled “Multimedia Content Navigation and Playback”; and 8,117,282, entitled
“Media Player Configured to Receive Playback Filters From Alternative Storage Mediums.” ClearPlay alleges that
the AutoHop
™
feature of our Hopper set-top box infringes the asserted patents. On February 11, 2015, the case was
stayed pending various third-party challenges before the United States Patent and Trademark Office regarding the
validity of certain of the patents asserted in the action.
We intend to vigorously defend this case. In the event that a court ultimately determines that we infringe 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 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.
CRFD Research, Inc. (a subsidiary of Marathon Patent Group, Inc.)
On January 17, 2014, CRFD Research, Inc. (“CRFD”) filed a complaint against us, our wholly-owned subsidiaries
DISH DBS Corporation and DISH Network L.L.C., EchoStar, and its wholly-owned subsidiary EchoStar
Technologies L.L.C., in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging infringement of
United States Patent No. 7,191,233 (the “233 patent”). The 233 patent is entitled “System for Automated, Mid-
Session, User-Directed, Device-to-Device Session Transfer System,” and relates to transferring an ongoing software
session from one device to another. CRFD alleges that our Hopper and Joey
®
set-top boxes infringe the 233 patent.
On the same day, CRFD filed similar complaints against AT&T Inc.; Comcast Corp.; DirecTV; Time Warner Cable
Inc.; Cox Communications, Inc.; Akamai Technologies, Inc.; Cablevision Systems Corp. and Limelight Networks,
Inc. CRFD is an entity that seeks to license an acquired patent portfolio without itself practicing any of the claims
recited therein. On January 26, 2015, we and EchoStar filed a petition before the United States Patent and
Trademark Office challenging the validity of the 233 patent. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has