Rovi Issues Comment Related to Initial Determination from ITC

Rovi Corporation

today announced that the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued an initial determination in its action against Netflix and Roku. The ALJ found three out of the four Rovi patents involved in this action are valid, however has determined that Netflix and Roku have not infringed the patents in the current proceeding. In addition, the ALJ found that Rovi had satisfied the domestic industry requirement of the ITC for all of the asserted patents and rejected all the defense claims such as patent misuse and exhaustion that were raised by Netflix and Roku. "While we are disappointed in the initial determination of no infringement and expect to exercise our right to petition the full Commission of the ITC for a review of this decision, we are pleased that the majority of the patents involved were confirmed valid," said Samir Armaly, executive vice president of worldwide intellectual property and licensing for Rovi. "We continue to believe in the strength, relevance and value of our patent portfolio, which is evident from the extensive licensing we have successfully completed with many leading companies throughout the world." Mr. Armaly also noted that, "This initial determination involved only four patents in Rovi's extensive worldwide portfolio of over 5000 issued patents and pending applications. As with any patent litigation issue, the determination made by the ITC is unique to the products of the parties involved, and is not broadly applicable. We will continue to seek to license companies to the technologies that we've developed and to protect our intellectual property from unlicensed use, including in the pending federal district court action against Netflix, in which certain issues required in the ITC are not part of Rovi's case." This ITC action, In re Certain Products Containing Interactive Program Guide and Parental Control Technology, Inv. No. 337-TA-845, was filed on April 30, 2012, by Rovi. Prior to this decision, Rovi reached and announced settlement and license agreements with the other three leading consumer electronics companies that were part of the original complaint and same action.