6月10号在ITC Rovi 对Netflix的专利侵权诉讼，Netflix赢了第一个回合
7月15号，地区法院法官Phyllis Hamilton 更判决Rovi的专利无效，Netflix 与Rovi 的长时期的专利战争告一段落。长期以来，Rovi利用其在数码娱乐领域的专利，来控制和加强其市场领先地位，限制其他公司，包括Hulu, Amazon入场。Rovi 的专利包括对数码娱乐领域的分类。法官Phyllis Hamilton 认为这些娱乐领域只是抽象概念，不应该被专利。Rovi很不认同，决定上诉。最后结果如何，还得等到明后年了。
A long-running patent battle between Netflix and Rovi has concluded, with Netflix beating back the entertainment guide company. Rovi provides digital entertainment guides to cable companies and others and has long used its patents to enforce its dominant position in the market. That strategy has come in for criticism, with Rovi’s patents being viewed as covering the basic idea of an electronic TV Guide. That was especially true when Rovi used its patents to go after Internet companies that wanted to make their own guides and not take Rovi content, like Hulu and Amazon
In the published order, US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton invalidated (PDF) five of Rovi’s patents. One of Rovi’s patents was on “categorizing shows using combination categories.” Such combination categories could include things as simple as “sports dramas” or “romantic comedies,” Hamilton found that Rovi was seeking to outright patent the use of such combinations, with no “meaningful limitations” on its claim, just generic computer components like a “processor” and “receiver.”
