Vonage ordered to pay $58m in Verizon patent flap
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Company "delighted" it wasn't more A US District Court jury said Vonage Holdings violated three patents held by Verizon Communications and ordered the VoIP telephony company to pay $58m in damages and annual royalties.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - A federal court ruled on Tuesday that struggling VoIP provider Vonage infringed on patents owned by Sprint Nextel. Jurors in the U.S. District Court in Kansas found that Vonage willfully infringed on Sprint's patents as part of its VoIP service, Vonage said. The jury awarded Sprint $69.5 million in damages, which amounts to 5 percent of Vonage's revenue during the infringing period. Vonage plans to initially ask the court to set aside the verdict, but if that fails, the company will appeal the decision. In the meantime, Vonage will also develop workarounds that don't require Sprint's patents, it said. This is the second legal blow to Vonage this year. A court found earlier this year thatÂ Vonage infringed on Verizon patents. That case came with an injunction that would have prevented Vonage from signing up new customers.Â Vonage won a stay of that injunctionÂ and is appealing the original infringement ruling. Although it's clearly bad news for Vonage to have two patent infringement rulings against it this year, the appeals could change everything, said Seth Ostrow, a partner specializing in patents in Dreier LLP. "Often there are mistakes made during various stages of a case that form the basis for a successful appeal, and that, coupled with the statistics, gives reason to think that Vonage has a significant chance of getting this changed," he said. Statistics show that patent cases often get changed on appeal, he said. In August, Vonage said it had nearly completed rolling out workarounds for two of the three patents claimed by Verizon. Still, the Verizon case alone appears to have slowed growth for the company, the largest independent VoIP provider. In its second quarter this year, Vonage added 57,000 customer lines, compared with 256,000 in the same quarter in the previous year. Vonage has said that Verizon pursued the lawsuit in an effort to eliminate a competitor. Vonage stock opened the day at $1.99 and closed at $1.20, a 33 percent drop. This story was updated on September 25, 2007
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AT&amp;T filed a lawsuit against VoIP provider Vonage on Friday seeking damages for alleged patent infringement.The lawsuit comes just days after Vonage settled a patent-infringement lawsuit with telecom provider Sprint Nextel.In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, AT&amp;T alleged that Vonage wilfully infringed an AT&amp;T patent related to telephone systems that allow people to make VoIP calls using standard telephone devices.In the legal filing, AT&amp;T said it tried to reach an agreement with Vonage to license the patent, but failed, which forced the lawsuit.Vonage announced on Oct. 8 that it settled its suit with Sprint Nextel for $80 million. As part of that agreement, Vonage agreed to license VoIP patents from Sprint, including more than 100 patents covering technology for connecting calls from a traditional phone network to an IP network.Vonage is also in the process of resolving a patent infringement dispute with Verizon. Earlier this year, a court found&#160;Vonage infringed on Verizon patents&#160;and ordered an injunction that could have prevented Vonage from signing up new customers.&#160;Vonage won an injunction staying the order&#160;and is appealing the original infringement ruling. Vonage in August said it was close to rolling out workarounds for two of the three patents Verizon claimed.Vonage is one of the largest independent VoIP providers in the U.S. with nearly 2.5 million customers.
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Internet-based calling company Vonage Holdings Corp.  said on Thursday that it settled a patent dispute with Verizon Communications Inc .
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Vonage, an Internet phone company, may receive a temporary lifeline as it struggles to survive a patent dispute with Verizon Communications.
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Verizon Communications Inc. has charged that Internet phone carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. violated patent rights that Verizon has on technology for making phone calls over the Internet.
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Vonage must pay damages and a 5.5 percent royalty rate on future sales in order to continue using Verizon technology.
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Vonage is getting sued?again. This time telecommunications maker Nortel Networks has filed a suit against the company.
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The last day of 2007 brought some relief to struggling Internet telephone provider Vonage, as the company settled the last patent infringement lawsuit against it, this time with telecommunications giant Nortel.
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- Internet-based calling company Vonage Holdings  Corp  said it settled a patent dispute with Nortel.
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Internet phone company Vonage infringed on three patents held by Verizon Communications and must pay $58 million plus possible future royalties to its competitor, a jury said yesterday.
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Judgment calls for company accused of sending unsolicited messages to Verizon customers to pay more than $200,000 in damages.
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Verizon Communications won an appeals court ruling yesterday upholding most of a patent verdict over smaller rival Vonage Holdings, the second legal setback for the Internet phone company in as many days.
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Internet phone company Vonage Holdings Corp. said on Friday it was not going out of business despite a jury's verdict a day earlier that it infringed on three patents owned by Verizon Communications Inc.
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Internet phone company Vonage Holdings  Corp. said on Friday it was not going out of business despite a  jury's verdict a day earlier that it infringed on three patents  owned by Verizon Communications Inc.
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Shortly after being ordered to pay $58 million to Verizon in a patent suit, voice-over-the-internet phone service Vonage has now been ordered to pay $69.5 million to Sprint Nextel.
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A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld a verdict that Vonage Holdings Corp  infringed two patents held by Verizon Communications Inc , the latest legal setback for the loss-making Internet phone company.