Ensuring that the two won’t be battling in the courts anytime soon, The Kudelski Group and Roku have struck a patent cross-license and technology collaboration agreement.

RELATED: OpenTV, Nagravision Sue Shaw, Target MSO's X1-Based TV Service

Financial terms weren’t announced, but the agreement gives each side the “freedom to operate with respect to the other’s patent portfolios,” Kudelski said.

The deal also factors in a framework for the companies to collaborate on incorporating Kudelski’s security solutions on Roku’s platforms.

RELATED: Kudelski Group and Turner sign patent license agreement

The OpenTV and Nagravision units of The Kudelski Group have filed a patent lawsuit against Shaw Communications that’s seeking to halt the rollout of BlueSky TV, a next-gen pay TV offering from Shaw that relies on Comcast’s X1 platform.

The lawsuit, filed against Shaw in the Federal Court of Canada, alleges that Shaw’s system infringes on six Canadian patents owned by Nagravision and OpenTV covering and related to pay TV purchasing, distribution, viewership monitoring and interactive television systems.

Per information posted at the court, the patents in question are:

-CA 2,378,692: Impulse purchase system for pay-television
-CA 2,270,723: Configurable monitoring of program viewership and usage of interactive applications 
-CA 2,333,716: Module manager for interactive television system
-CA 2,432,609: Data distribution system 
-CA 2,270,727: Reminder system for broadcast and non-broadcast events based on broadcast interactive applications
-CA 2,391,859: Method and device for filtering information

“The lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction prohibiting deployment of Shaw’s recent release of ‘BlueSky TV,’ which is a licensed version of Comcast’s X1 platform,” Nagra and OpenTV said.

The Kudelski-owned companies are lobbing the lawsuit against Shaw just weeks after the MSO started to rollout BlueSky TV, a new pay TV offering that is powered by Comcast’s X1 platform that uses a new cloud-based interface and voice remotes and other advanced features.

Shaw, which initially licensed X1 for a mobile app called Free Range TV, launched BlueSky TV initially in Calgary in January, and expanded it to Vancouver last month.

RELATED: Shaw Launches ‘BlueSky TV,’ Powered by Comcast’s X1 Platform

Shaw and Comcast have been asked for comment.

UPDATE:  A Shaw spokesperson issued this statement: “We can confirm that a claim was served on Shaw last Friday, Feb 24 and Shaw has engaged counsel and is assessing the claim, but otherwise we have no comment at this time.”

RELATED: X1 Licensing Not a ‘Big Financial Mover’ for Comcast

Fellow Canadian cable operator, Rogers Communications, has also announced that it will tap X1 for a new IPTV service that’s expected to debut by early 2018. Cox Communications has also licensed X1 for a new version of its “Contour” video service, which has already given Cox’s video subscriber results a lift.

RELATED: Rogers to Tap Comcast’s X1 Platform for IPTV Shift

Nagra said it has inked a deal to provide content protection technologies and services for Altice USA, the unit of Altice that recently acquired Cablevision Systems and Suddenlink Communications.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Altice USA will tap the Nagra Connect “converged” conditional access/digital rights management platform for broadcast, IPTV, OTT and connected home services, along with the vendor’s MediaLive platform (for IP- and QAM-based multiscreen content) to enable content security for the MSO’s standard-definition, high-definition and 4K/Ultra HD services.

Altice USA has not fully detailed what future product will employ Nagra’s content security platform. However, Dexter Goei, Altice USA’s chairman and CEO, noted in the Altice Q3 earnings call last November that the company was pushing toward a new Home Hub Center that will also utilize a new user interface. Following the closure of its Cablevision acquisition last year, Altice USA also announced that it would eventually introduce an “all-in-on home center” that integrates the capabilities of the set-top box, router and WiFi modems in one device that runs on a unified interface. In 2015, Altice’s unit in France introduced a next-gen gateway, initially for FTTP networks, that could factor into Altice USA’s ambitious plan to upgrade to an all-fiber access network.

RELATED: Altice USA to Skip DOCSIS 3.1, Roll Out All-Fiber Network

Altice USA’s selection of Nagra’s content protection platforms marks a major shift in the MSO’s legacy security platforms, and should help to unify the operator’s technology approach, as Altice and Nagra already work together in other parts of the globe.

Suddenlink has been using Arris/Motorola CableCARD security for its current TiVo-powered platform, and Cablevision has been using a downloadable security system that leans heavily on technology from Cisco Systems/NDS and boxes from Samsung.

RELATED: Altice’s Tech Synergy Challenge

To support the legacy security systems and the new one, Altice will rely on Simulcrypt, a technique with linkages to Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), a standard that’s popular in Europe, that allows more than one conditional access system to operate on the same video program stream. There’s a relatively small bandwidth hit with Simulcrypt, but the approach does not require the operator to duplicate or simulcast the primary video streams.

Altice is expected to employ a “cap and grow” strategy to support the initial rollout and eventual migration to the new platform, Christopher Schouten, senior director of product marketing at Nagra, said, adding that the new content security systems will support Altice’s transition to a full-IP network.

Schouten said the approach is primarily DVB-based, but that Nagra’s implementation also factors in some of the specific needs of U.S. cable networks that vary from those in Europe.

He said Nagra, which also counts CableOne among its U.S. cable operator partners, is hopeful that its approach and use of Simulcrypt could help other operators break out of the existing video security duopoly of Arris/Motorola and Cisco and allow them to expand their ability to pick set-top box vendors.

“We are in a unique position to bring innovative products and services to Altice USA’s Optimum and Suddenlink customers by leveraging our global operational expertise, scale, resources, and key strategic partners like NAGRA,” Hakim Boubazine, co-president and COO of Altice USA, said in a statement. “We have been impressed by the flexibility NAGRA has shown in adapting to U.S.-specific requirements in a short amount of time, and this partnership will enable us to design integrated services to meet our customers’ expectations.”

OpenTV, a video software and apps subsidiary of The Kudelski Group, said Monday (January 16) that it has filed a patent infringement suit against NFL Enterprises LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

The lawsuit alleges that the NFL is infringing on seven U.S. patents owned by OpenTV, and specifically goes after several streaming and interactive services, including NFL.com, NFL Network/NFL RedZone, NFL Now, NFL Game Pass, NFL Mobile, the NFL App, and NFL Fantasy Football.

Update: According to the complaint, Open TV alleges that NFLE directly and indirectly infringes on the following U.S. patents:

-7,996,861: “Flexible Interface for Secure Input of Pin Code.”

- 7,421,729: “Generation and Insertion of Indicators Using An Address Signal Applied To A Database.”

-7,028,327: “Using The Electronic Program Guide To Synchronize Interactivity With Broadcast Programs.”

- 7,950,033: “Utilization of Relational Metadata In A Television System.”

-7,055,169: “Supporting Common Interactive Television Functionality Through Presentation Engine Syntax.”

-7,020,888: “System And Method For Providing An Omnimedia Package.”

-6,233,736: “Media Online Service Access System and Method.”

Kudelski took control of OpenTV in late 2009, and sold OpenTV’s advanced advertising business unit to Imagine Communications in 2014.

The NFL lawsuit notwithstanding, Kudelski has been busy settling other patent-related lawsuits, including those with Apple, Yahoo and Verizon/AOL.

The Kudelski Group said it has entered into a comprehensive patent license agreement with Apple.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but the parties agreed to dismiss all pending patent litigation, Kudelski said.

Kudelski has been busy mending fences of late.

Kudelski and Yahoo, whose operating business is being acquired by Verizon, settled their patent squabble in May.

The Kudelski Group’s  OpenTV and Nagra France SAS subsidiaries filed a patent infringement suit against Verizon Communications and its AOL division in late 2015 over claims that they are infringing on a batch of U.S. patents tied to streaming video services. In February, Kudelski and Verizon entered a multi-year patent cross licensing agreement that dismissed all pending patent litigation that related to Verizon’s Fios TV service, video advertising capabilities, and OTT streaming services, including AOL.