The Battle For Onscreen Interactive Guides
from the Gemstar-wants-it-all dept
Among the silly patents out there, one of the most protected ones is the one Gemstar has for onscreen interactive programming guides. They actually own about 200 patents in this area just to make sure that no one but them can provide such a service. However, those patents are now being challenged in court. The article linked here goes on to explain why this battle may be one of the bigger ones in figuring out just how interactive TV will work over the next few years. There are a bunch of companies that are coming up with new and innovative ways to do things on your TV - or via any computer/multimedia device. But, if they're all held back because they violate some Gemstar patent, it could certainly slow down the adoption of certain systems.
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