Rovi Corp., which in December bought Sonic Solutions, licenses its electronic program guide technology to a number of companies like Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). One of them, however, isn't Hulu, and the company has sued Hulu claiming the online TV site is infringing on its electronic program guide patents.
Rovi claims Hulu's infringement "presents significant and ongoing damages to Rovi's business." Rovi is seeking compensation for lost revenue and treble damages.
"Rovi invests significant resources" developing its guides and related inventions for digital video streaming technologies, the company said in court papers.
Rovi in January sued IMDB.com for allegedly infringing on five of its patents related to online programming guides .
Hulu currently is for sale by its media owners, News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Disney (NYSE: DIS), and Comcast's NBCUniversal.
For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
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