Tivo (TIVO) has settled a nine-year patent and intellectual property battle with Cisco (CSCO 0.06%), Google (GOOGL 0.55%) and Arris' (ARRS) Motorola, and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) over its digital-video recording technology, TIVO announced today.
The settlement includes an upfront payment of $490 million from Google and Cisco, and the company says this will bring awards and settlements for its intellectual property battles to an estimated $1.6 billion. Cisco will be responsible for $294 million of the $490 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Tivo will also enter into patent licensing deals with Google, Cisco and Arris Group. Google bought Motorola Mobility in 2012 and sold its set-top making unit to Arris this year.
Tivo spent the past several years going after pay-TV companies, saying that they were using its patented technology in DVRs. It previously negotiated settlements in similar cases against companies including DISH Network, AT&T, and Verizon.
CEO and President Tom Rogers said in a statement today:
We are pleased to reach an agreement that brings our pending litigation to an end and further underscores the significant value our distribution partners derive from TiVo's technological innovations and our shareholders derive from our investments in protecting TiVo's intellectual property. Further, this settlement significantly enhances our already strong balance sheet, bringing our cash position to over $1 billion before inclusion of future expected payments of at least $400 million from prior settlements.
Coinciding with the announcement, Tivo's board approved a doubling of the corporation's stock repurchase authorization, from $100 million to $200 million. The buyback authorization has been extended two years, until Aug. 29, 2015. Over the past 52 weeks, TIVO shares have traded between $7.75 and $14.10.
According to Rogers, Tivo will be "more aggressively returning capital to shareholders" with its new cash and share repurchase program.
Click here to read Fool Anders Bylund's take on the settlement shareholders' reaction. The terms fell well short of what most Tivo investors had expected and shares of Tivo plunged 18% Friday.
-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
