Dish and Echostar announced on Tuesday that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has invalidated the software claims of TiVo Inc.’s digital video recorder patent in light of two prior art references. Both Dish and Echostar are challenging the $200 million hit they took for repeated infringement of the DVR patent. The ruling puts a new slant on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s en banc review of the contempt aware and injunction, which turns on whether Dish and Echostar adequately revamped software covered by the patent. In May, the Federal Circuit denied Echostar’s motion for a panel rehearing but granted its request for a rehearing en banc.