TiVo, Inc. v. EchoStar Corporation, Echostar DBS Corporation, Echostar Technologies Corporation, Echosphere Limited Liability Company, Echostar Satellite LLC, and Dish Network Corporation

Brief of the Federal Trade Commission as amicus curiae, before the en banc United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a case concerning the standards applicable when a patentee moves for contempt of a previously-entered injunction against acts of infringement. A divided Federal Circuit panel held that a district court had properly evaluated Echostar’s post-judgment conduct in contempt proceedings, and that it infringed TiVo’s patents despite its design-around efforts. The FTC’s brief supports neither of the parties, but urges the Federal Circuit, when crafting the standards for triggering contempt rather than requiring a new infringement trial, to consider how making summary contempt proceedings and contempt sanctions too easily available could dampen incentives for follow-on innovation, while at the same time, enforceable injunctions can also be an important prerequisite to innovation and entry.