LEGAL — A Texas judge denied Forgent Networks’ motion for a new trial regarding its patent infringement lawsuit against EchoStar last week. In upholding an earlier unanimous jury decision that the satellite company did not violate a Forgent patent, the court awarded EchoStar $90,000 in court costs. DIRECTV and various cable companies settled with Forgent before trial, the company said.

LEGAL — A jury for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota ruled Friday that KVH Industries is not liable for infringing a King Controls patent. According to the verdict, the jury found that one of King’s claims was invalid due to “the existence of prior art as well as the obviousness of the technology,” the company said. The lawsuit asserted that KVH was liable for royalties and sought an injunction against selling certain products because satellite switching capabilities present in KVH’s TracVision mobile satellite TV systems had infringed on the King patent.

LAUNCHES — Arianespace’s third heavy-lift Ariane 5 mission of 2007 has been cleared for its Aug. 14 liftoff at the Spaceport in French Guiana. The company said all is ready for Ariane 5’s transfer from its final assembly building to the ELA-3 launch pad for the final countdown. The Ariane 5 carries a dual-passenger payload of Hughes Network Systems’ SPACEWAY 3 and B-SAT Corporation’s BSAT-3a satellites. In related news, SkyBOX will appear next Monday when BRIDGE Editor-in-Chief Evie Haskell returns from French Guiana after viewing the launch in person.

CORRECTIONS — EchoStar said there will be an activation fee for the ViP 622 and ViP 722 DVRs for both new and existing customers. The company said new customers will not receive the upgrade for free. Also, the company’s revenues increased 12 percent to $2.8 billion - not $2.8 million as mistakenly reported last week.