Shares Rise as Vonage Settles Fight Over Patent
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Shares of Vonage, the Internet telephone provider, rose sharply after it announced it had settled a patent dispute with Verizon and would have to pay a maximum of $120 million.
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Vonage Holdings Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp. have settled their patent litigation, allowing for cross-licensing of the telecom companies' technology.
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Investors who have not paid for shares bought in VonageÂs initial public offering are being told to write a check or risk legal action.
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NEW YORK -   Verizon and Vonage on Wednesday will present opening statements in a patent-infringement case that could have a big impact on consumers and the nascent Internet telephone industry. Most immediately at risk is the future of Vonage.
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By MATTHEW BARAKAT ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A federal jury on Thursday found that Internet phone carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. had infringed on Verizon Communications Inc.'s patents and ordered Vonage to pay $58 million.
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Vonage and AT&#38;T, still locked in a price war, are separately planning new features in a battle for VoIP customers.
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ALEXANDRIA, Virginia  - A jury dealt a blow to loss-making Internet phone provider Vonage Holdings Corp. on Thursday, ordering the company to pay $58 million plus royalties on future sales for infringing three patents owned by Verizon Communications Inc..
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Internet-based calling company Vonage  Holdings Corp  said it has agreed to settle a patent  dispute with Nortel Networks   with no payment of  damages, sending its share up more than 8 percent.
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A sudden patent lawsuit wasn't enough to mute investor interest in the IPO.
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ALEXANDRIA, Virginia  - A federal jury on Thursday found that Vonage Holdings Corp. , an Internet phone service provider, infringed on three key patents owned by Verizon Communications Inc. .
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Internet phone services company Vonage  Holdings Corp.  said on Monday it did not infringe on  Verizon Communications Inc.'s  patents and a lawsuit will  not disrupt its business whatever the outcome.
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Broadband Internet telephony company Vonage raised $105 million in its latest round of funding, which will be used to expand its reach in the United States and internationally.
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Shares of Sprint Nextel Corp   rose over 3.5 percent on Friday as investors reacted to market  speculation the No. 3 U.S. mobile service could be sold to  Britain&#39;s BT Group , but analysts were skeptical.
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Internet phone company Vonage loses a patent case that could threaten its business.
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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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Troubled VoIP service provider Vonage is rolling out new products and services at the Consumer Electronics Show in a bid to reverse its downward spiral.Intellectual property lawsuits brought by Nortel, Verizon, Sprint, and AT&amp;T have distracted Vonage for the past year. During that time, customer acquisition slowed, and defections grew to 3 percent in the third quarter last year.But Vonage says it is ready to turn a corner. The suits were a weapon that the phone companies used to defend their businesses in the face of competition from Vonage, said Jeffrey Citron, chairman, chief strategist and interim CEO at Vonage. &quot;It was a successful strategy. It distracted us and slowed us down,&quot; he said. &quot;Instead of rolling out MyVonage six months ago, we were dealing with workarounds.&quot; MyVonage is the name of a new campaign at the company to introduce a host of services geared toward customer lifestyles.While the lawsuits were ongoing, the company was developing workaround technology that would allow its business to move forward without infringing on the relevant patents. Vonage has now settled all four major lawsuits against it.That has left Vonage free to spend more time focusing on its business, said Citron. It hired new engineers who designed a router, the first time Vonage will sell its own router rather than one from Cisco or Motorola.The router has an unusual feature: a screen. It displays information about problems that the modem might have in plain language. For instance, rather than showing a flashing light like most routers, this one displays words telling users that the Ethernet cable is unplugged.New customers will be able to buy the V-Portal router online starting Wednesday for $9.99 after rebates.In addition to the new router, Vonage is beginning to roll out many new features that it is showcasing at alpha.vonage.com. For instance, customers can now use voice-activated dialing, simply speaking a name to place a call. Customers can also send a voice message to anyone via e-mail. The message arrives as an attached audio file.Call blast is a new feature that lets customers send out a voice mail simultaneously to a group of people. Citron anticipates that will be useful when he&#39;s in charge of calling 15 kids who go to school with his kids to tell them there is a snow day.&quot;We expect to roll out a new capability every month or two,&quot; Citron said.Vonage also plans to offer another service that lets users access the voice recognition system from any phone to make a call through Vonage. The company is also testing software that would let customers make Vonage calls via software on their laptops.Many of these services are free to Vonage customers.Citron said that the future for Vonage will be brighter. Despite continued high churn, last quarter it had a gain of 77,000 customers, which he says isn&#39;t as good as it should be. The company has worked to cut costs, and improvements in customer service should help decrease customer losses, he said.In the meantime, speculation continues to circle that the payouts Vonage made to settle the lawsuits will cripple it. But Citron was confident that the company&#39;s troubles are behind it.
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Vonage has settled the patent-infringement suit AT&T filed against the smaller firm just two months ago.