TiVo Shares Soar After 'major Victory' In Court

NEW YORK (AP) — An analyst reiterated his "Buy" rating and raised his price target for TiVo Inc. Wednesday, calling a patent-related court win over rival Dish Network Corp. "a major victory."

Shares soared 47 percent, or $3.28 to $10.26 in midday trading.

On Tuesday, a federal court ordered Dish Network to pay TiVo $103 million plus interest for using a modified digital video recorder technology that it determined violated TiVo's patent for DVR Time Warp technology, which allows viewers to pause, rewind and fast-forward live shows.

In 2004, Dish lost a patent infringement case filed by TiVo, and the company modified its software while the case was on appeal. But TiVo said the software still infringed on its patent and asked — and was granted — a permanent injunction by the court.

In a note to clients, Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible raised his price target to $13.50 from $9.75.

Wible said that the court's decision favoring TiVo should reinforce the value of the company's intellectual property and make it more difficult for cable companies to get around TiVo's patent by offering generic services.

The analyst said he thinks the decision will also help TiVo get more deals with cable companies, better license terms, and "open up more strategic options."

He added that the decision makes TiVo a more attractive acquisition target, saying "players may jockey to buy TiVo to control the DVR patent out of fear or greed."