In 2006 american company Tivo filed a patent infringement suit against Dish Network, EchoStar. Today the companies settled the case earning Tivo $ 500 mio. That means that every day since 2006 the Tivo patents in the suit made $ 273.000 for their owners, which is a considerable sum.
In 1999 Tivo was one of the first to exploit the new possibilities in set top boxes. In 2006 EchoStar launched a product using Tivo technology at that time Tivi had 4,5 million subscribers. Quickly after the launch Tivo began bleeding subscribers and EchoStar skyrocketed. In 2009 Tivo had 2,5 million subscribers and EchoStar more that 7 million. So EchoStar used Tivos technology to ride the wave of consumers buying digital set top boxes, and not having to spend money on development was able to out maneuver Tivo. Until now.