Fri Aug 18, 2006 LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A judge has ordered E*hoStar to disable the digital video recorders used by several million subscribers to its D*sh satellite TV service because they infringe on patents held by TiVo. E*hoStar’s DVRs must be disabled within the next 30 days.

Thursday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge David Folsom in Marshall, Texas, demands that within 30 days E*hoStar must basically render useless all but 192,708 of the DVR units it has deployed.

The decision comes four months after a jury ruled that E*hoStar should pay TiVo $74.9 million because it willfully infringed TiVo patents that allow for the digital storage of TV programming.

The judge also denied E*hoStar’s request that the injunction be stayed pending appeal, making it difficult for E*hoStar to continue offering its subscribers’ DVR functionality without striking a quick licensing deal with TiVo or another DVR maker.

While the injunction battle clearly was won by TiVo, the scrappy pioneer of the DVR industry also was handed a loss Thursday when Folsom ruled against its request that the jury award be tripled. The judge, however, ordered E*hoStar to pay an additional $5.4 million in interest payments and $10.3 million in supplemental damages, bringing the amount E*hoStar owes TiVo to nearly $90 million.