TiVo said late last week that a federal appeals court had rejected rival company EchoStar's request to have judges rehear arguments related to an ongoing patent dispute.

Tivo said that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington DC had denied EchoStar's request for a rehearing.

"We are extremely pleased that the court today denied EchoStar's petition for a rehearing en banc, upholding the court's unanimous ruling in our favour on 31 January 2008 in EchoStar's appeal of the district court judgment of patent infringement," the firm said.

The ruling should bring the two firms closer to a resolution of EchoStar's alleged patent infringement.

Earlier this year, EchoStar was found to have infringed a TiVo patent and was charged with damages amounting to $94m.