We have seen a lot of court battles and lawsuits lately among tech companies as they try to convince judges that other businesses are infringing on their patent rights. Today, the tables have turned somewhat as two companies have now agreed to dismiss their previous patent lawsuits against each other.
On Wednesday, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the TV DVR company TiVo announced that it had reached an agreement with Microsoft. TiVo states that " ... Microsoft has agreed to dismiss all of its pending litigation against TiVo ..." In return, TiVo says it " ... has agreed to dismiss its counterclaim against Microsoft ..." Neither Microsoft nor TiVo were granted any patent rights as a result of this new agreement, according to the filing.
Microsoft first filed a lawsuit against TiVo in 2010, claiming that TiVo was violating patents that Microsoft held that were based on delivering and purchasing videos. TiVo later counter-sued Microsoft, claiming it was in violation of TiVo"s many patents. This new regulatory filing gives no information on why either company decided to give up on their respective lawsuits.
Microsoft still has plenty of patent lawsuits that are making their way in court systems around the world. The latest was in February when Microsoft sued Motorola and Google in Europe, claiming that the companies were not offering patents that they hold for watching video on the web on reasonable terms to anyone else who wants to use them.