In a change of heart, Hulu has
withdrawn its opposition to
Dish Network’s “TV Everywhere”
trademark application
after the companies settled
their dispute over the term, according
to a joint filing with the
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.
It’s not clear how Hulu and
Dish resolved their differences
over TV Everywhere, which
has been used in the pay TV industry
for the last three years
to refer to authenticated online
video services. The companies
declined to comment on the
terms of the settlement.
But the détente may have
arisen from the fact that Hulu
and Dish are partners on the
TV Everywhere front. As part of Hulu’s nascent authentication
strategy, the Internet-TV site offers Dish subscribers
(as well as Verizon FiOS customers) access to new
episodes of Fox shows the day after they air. Other users
are forced to wait eight days.
However, Dish’s claim on “TV Everywhere” is still
formally being challenged by the five largest U.S. cable
operators — Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications,
Charter Communications and Cablevision
Systems — as well as DirecTV and Time Warner Inc.,
which claims it actually coined the term.
Previously, Hulu had objected in a Feb. 29 filing that
Dish shouldn’t be granted a trademark on the term because
it has been used generically.
