文章基本信息

标题：Protecting Property - Company Business and Marketing - Editorial
作者：Joshua Cho
期刊名称：Cable World
印刷版ISSN：1931-7697
出版年度：2000
卷号：Feb 21, 2000
出版社：Access Intelligence

Protecting Property - Company Business and Marketing - Editorial

Joshua Cho

Just because a company owns the lion's share of intellectual property doesn't mean that it can rest on its laurels. Other people are going to try to use that technology, either intentionally or not. And Gemstar is one company that has its work cut out for it in the patent protection department with more than 85 issued U.S. patents in the general area of audiovisual technologies, containing 1,850 claims and more than 90 issued foreign patents.

According to Cable World research, Gemstar also has more than 110 pending U.S. patent applications and more than 300 pending foreign patent applications. As such, the company is no stranger to lawsuits in an effort to protect its intellectual property.

In keeping with its litigious past, Gemstar recently filed a patent infringement lawsuit against interactive television company TiVo Inc. in the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California. According to company execs, the two companies are currently in "substantive negotiations regarding a licensing agreement." A similar situation surrounds Gemstar's patent infringement lawsuit against ReplayTV Inc., which recently filed for an initial public offering.

"(Replay) can't do time-shifted television in a way that's powerful and significant without infringing some of Gemstar's patents," said TV Guide president/COO Peter C. Boylan III.

According to analysts, it seems that Gemstar is the sole owner of the patents required to make an IPG work.

"Other players will try to move into this space," said CIBC World Markets analyst John Corcoran. "But we think that most client-based guides would likely infringe some portion of Gemstar's intellectual property portfolio."

Corcoran said he believes that despite this, other companies will attempt to enter the IPG business, which has the potential to grow into a multi-billion dollar ad and commerce platform.