TiVo’s new patent creed: Even Samsung’s cell phones infringe our DVR patents

TiVo has sued Samsung for patent infringement, seeking to add the Korean electronics giant to the long list of companies that have paid TiVo for its patents. The new lawsuit seeks to keep patent royalties flowing to TiVo for years to come and accuses not just Samsung's set-top boxes of infringement, but also a wide array of its mobile devices.

A pioneering DVR company, TiVo's high-priced products have struggled in the marketplace in recent years, as many consumers have opted for renting set-top boxes from their cable providers. TiVo has been adapting to that model, with about 5 million of its 6 million customers now renting TiVo DVRs through deals with their cable providers, not from TiVo directly.

TiVo has supplemented its income from products with royalties from a series of patent battles against satellite and cable companies. In its complaint (PDF) filed yesterday, TiVo lawyers note that it has pulled in $1.6 billion in royalty payments from patent-related lawsuits. The licensees include EchoStar, AT&T, Verizon, Motorola Mobility, and Cisco, among others.