TiVo Responds To Court's Decision To Revisit Patent Case As Stock Plummets

TiVo is having a very rough morning.

A federal appeals court stated today that it will revisit a digital-video recorder patent dispute between TiVo and both Dish Network and EchoStar. TiVo has sued the companies back in 2004 over its patented DVR technology back when the two were still a single company.

They won the suit, but the court has now decided to reconsider its verdict, which is a bit of a cold shower for the company.

Today’s decision pushed TiVo shares down as much as 36 38 percent.

The company moments ago released a statement on the matter:

“We are disappointed that we do not yet have finality in this case despite years of litigation but we remain confident that the Federal Circuit’s ruling in our favor will be reaffirmed after all of the judges on the Federal Circuit have had the opportunity to review the merits of this case.”

Update: and here’s the Dish / EchoStar statement:

“DISH Network and EchoStar are pleased that the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has granted their petition for rehearing en banc. We believe the issues that will be considered by the full court on rehearing will have a profound impact on innovation in the United States for years to come.”

In March 2010, a panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a trial judge’s decision to hold Dish and EchoStar in contempt for infringing on TiVo’s DVR patent. The companies then urged the court to reconsider, and the appeals court has granted said request earlier this morning. The court said it will take a second look at its March finding.

More details on BusinessWeek.

The market is busy beating TiVo with a stick – let’s see how long that continues.