Motorola has filed a patent-infringement suit against TiVo over digital video recorders, according to a report.

The suit claims TiVo willfully infringed patents that were filed in the mid '90s on behalf of a company later acquired by Motorola, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reports that the suit also mentions a DVR patent claim filed by TiVo against Verizon--which offers a service that uses set-top boxes made by Motorola--and that the Motorola suit seeks "all available remedies" for TiVo's alleged infringements, as well as a declaration that Motorola set tops don't infringe TiVo's patents.

The Motorola suit is but one of several DVR-related broadsides fired by various companies over the years.

Rear view of a Motorola set-top box.

TiVo's suit against EchoStar and Dish Network, which claims TiVo owns the patent on time-warp DVR technology, has been trudging through the courts since the mid '00s. The claim was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last summer, but the case is ongoing.

And earlier this year, Microsoft followed up a patent suit against TiVo by filing a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission that seeks to prohibit TiVo from importing or selling its set tops in the United States. The original suit involves video purchasing and delivery technology that Microsoft says is covered by patents it owns.

Patents, of course, have long provided a busy battleground for tech companies, which seek to file as many patent claims as possible, to protect themselves from suits as well as come out stronger in settlements.