OpenTV Files Patent Lawsuit Against Liberate Technologies

iTV company OpenTV recently filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Liberate Technologies in the U.S. District Court for Northern California.

The complaint claims that Liberate infringes two of OpenTV's U.S. patents. OpenTV is seeking an injunction and monetary damages, among other requests. The company filed the suit because it claims that the patents are key business assets.

Patents 5,819,034 and 5,563,648 were filed in 1994. The 034 patent relates to the method of repetitive distribution of iTV programs called "carouseling." The 648 patent refers to the "lifecycle" of an iTV application - how it is loaded, executed and then minimized or deleted.