said by maartena :

Buy the rights to something and then sue everyone who uses it? Such a lawsuit is not a problem if there were actual rights breached and a company is just trying to get the justice they worked for.... but the business this company is in is just abusing the legal system because they know the cable companies can pay up millions.

And who gets shafted in the end? The customer.

said by SD6 :

The CATV companies do NOT innovate. They generally utilize technology that others develop.

said by SD6 :

Not true. Many small companies go out of business. Why shouldn't they be allowed to gain at least from the technology they developed?

The CATV companies do NOT innovate. They generally utilize technology that others develop.

The VoIP lawsuits that Verizon have brought are more dubious, and are more for competitive reasons than "meritorious" reasons, than these.

The customer is more often hurt by the abuse of monopoly or dominating company than by some little guy suing.