July 15 (Bloomberg) -- TiVo Inc., the pioneer in digital- video recording services, is seeking almost $1 billion from legal opponent Dish Network Corp. for contempt in their 5 1/2- year patent battle, according to a court filing.

Dish, the second-biggest U.S. satellite-television provider, and EchoStar Corp. face contempt sanctions for continuing to infringe a TiVo patent after being ordered to stop providing DVR service. Dish had argued it altered the service to work around the patent and a federal judge last month disagreed.

The amount being sought by Alviso, California-based TiVo was disclosed in a July 13 filing in which Dish and EchoStar sought to delay the hearing on sanctions until after an appeals court rules on Dish’s challenge to the contempt finding. U.S. Judge David Folsom yesterday denied that request and a hearing is scheduled for July 28 in Marshall, Texas.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had put on hold Folsom’s June 2 order that Dish and EchoStar shut down the DVR service until the appeal is decided. That doesn’t preclude an imposition of sanctions, Folsom said.

“Judicial economy is best served by having the benefit of any sanction ruling before the Circuit when it decides EchoStar’s appeal,” the judge ruled. He said he’d delay any enforcement of the sanctions until the appeal is decided.

Both TiVo’s request for sanctions and Dish’s response were filed under seal last month.

Satellite Services

EchoStar runs the digital set-top box manufacturing and satellite services businesses that were part of Dish before the Englewood, Colorado-based companies split. DirecTV Group Inc. is the largest satellite-TV provider in the U.S.

Marc Lumpkin, a spokesman for EchoStar, declined to comment, as did Mike Boccio, a spokesman for TiVo. Kathie Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Dish, said the company was “pleased that the district court stayed enforcement of any sanctions pending our appeal.”

TiVo rose 33 cents to $9.65 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading and has increased 35 percent this year. EchoStar gained 9 cents to $15.92 and is up 7.1 percent this year. Dish climbed 70 cents to $15.61 and has advanced 41 percent in 2009.

The appeal is TiVo v. EchoStar, 09-1374, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Washington). The lower court case is TiVo Inc. v. EchoStar Communications Corp., 04cv01, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Marshall).

To contact the reporters responsible for this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net; Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 15, 2009 18:24 EDT