A long-running patent battle between Netflix and Rovi has concluded, with Netflix beating back the entertainment guide company. Rovi provides digital entertainment guides to cable companies and others and has long used its patents to enforce its dominant position in the market. That strategy has come in for criticism, with Rovi’s patents being viewed as covering the basic idea of an electronic TV Guide. That was especially true when Rovi used its patents to go after Internet companies that wanted to make their own guides and not take Rovi content, like Hulu and Amazon. In an order published yesterday, US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton invalidated five of Rovi’s patents. Netflix won its case under Section 101 of the patent laws, which bans patents that are abstract, including mental processes and generic concepts. This is Netflix’s second time beating Rovi’s patents.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/netflix-nukes-rovis-we-own-tv-guide-patents/
http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/101-order.pdf
http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/netflix-rovi-patent-lawsuit-1201541708/