Legal dispute could increase cost of digital TV

April 16th, 2008 By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Business Writer

(AP) -- A small Pennsylvania company's patent lawsuits could hamstring the government's $1.5 billion effort to make the transition to digital television easier on consumers' wallets.

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• jburchel - Apr 16, 2008
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  The government (not their money anyway) doesn't owe anybody a free digital converter box... Any TV bought in the last 10 years doesn't need one anyway, so for the miniscule percentage of households holding onto the old technology, they can pay just like everybody else did to get a newer TV, or just opt not to watch it. I'm sick of other people deciding how money I earned should be used. If I want to give to charity, I can do that, but stealing it out of my pocket and giving it away to someone else is not charitable; it is little more than theft.
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• AJW - Apr 17, 2008
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  We are a nation of laws? Are all laws logical? Consistent?
  When any government writes a law or rule requiring a patented technology let it also buy the patent.
  Anyway the supposed saving to consumers
  is not the cost of a new TV. It is the
  not buying another Betamax.
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• ShadowRam - Apr 17, 2008
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  Get rid of the patent system. Its a hindrance and helps NO one.
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