That must be how they got it past the dullards at the patent office. I’ve got nothing against Tivo in particular, but this is yet another bad patent on inevitable technology. It stifles competition and innovation in the name of protecting a very broad “idea” that many could have predicted. Sure, it was a clever concept, but it involved no new technology or ideas. The only thing it can do that VHS recorders could not is playback while recording. Big friggin’ deal. That’s not enough of an “innovation” to warrant blocking competition.

Stoopid patents, the whole IP arena being totally out of control, corporations ALWAYS giving preference to stock holder interests over workers, and idiotically inflated “executive compensation” are going to topple the US economy, sure as $hit.