Posted on 04/06/2007 12:15:49 PM PDT by mylife
Judge bars Vonage from signing up new customers
A U.S. district court ruling prohibits Vonage from adding new customers due to a jury's finding that the VoIP provider infringed on Verizon's patents
By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
April 06, 2007
A U.S. district court judge on Friday barred VoIP provider Vonage from signing up new customers after the company lost a patent infringement lawsuit to Verizon.
Judge Claude Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied Vonage's request to stay an injunction pending its appeal of a patent infringement ruling. On March 8, a federal jury found that Vonage infringed on three Verizon patents and must pay $58 million in damages plus royalties.
Verizon sued Vonage last June, alleging the VoIP provider had violated seven of its patents involving packet-based calling technology.
Hilton issued a permanent injunction against Vonage in late March but delayed its implementation while considering Vonage's request for a stay. Vonage has said it would appeal the injunction to a higher court if it failed with Hilton.
Current customers won't be affected by the injunction, Vonage has said.
A Vonage spokeswoman said Friday that the company is still evaluating Hilton's ruling and that the company would release a statement later. A Verizon spokesman said that company also would release a statement later Friday.
The ruling creates major questions for Vonage's future, VoIP analysts said.
"It just keeps getting worse and worse for them every week," said Will Stofega, research manager for VoIP services at IDC. "For the judge to rule they can't sign up new customers, that's the whole idea in terms of their strategy."
Vonage has said it has an alternative technology it can use that doesn't use the patents claimed by Verizon. "Now is the time to demonstrate they have it," Stofega said.
With no ability to grow, Vonage's future is in doubt, added Jeff Kagan, an independent telecom analyst. "Vonage was the poster child for the new VoIP technology, but now everyone is a competitor, and their importance is limited," he said. "The big question is about the company's survival, not the VoIP technology."
They also lost a law suit with Lucent recently. Time to look for another VOIP provider.
Doh!
I've been using Vonage for 18 months now, and love it too. It would really suq if I had to change services now.
Cue Vonage Music: Sometimes people do stupid things. HOO HOO, HOO HOO HOOO.... infringing on patents is one of those things.
I signed up with Vonage a couple of years ago. If they go out of business I’ll just give up on having a land-line. No way am I giving money to any of the regional monopoly telcos.
Buckle up!!! The dims are goin’ pay Americans back!
Is Verizon actually using any of the patents they’re attempting to enforce against Vonage? If so, for how long have they been using them?
Im about to go on travel next week and was looking to having my little keychain softphone to be able to use.
I guess I can still use it.
The future of the company doest look good.
I’m gonna be pissed if Im forced to buy new equipment a 2nd time.
I like VOIP and wont return to the old service regardless of what happens
w00h00w00h00wh00ps
I’ll just find another VOIP provider
"An artifact of current patent law in the United States is that companies and individuals are discouraged from seeing if their products infringe, Ravicher said.
'If you have knowledge and are found to infringe, a court can punish you," tripling financial penalties, Ravicher said. "If you say you didn't know and didn't see it, a court can't punish you. It's a screwed-up rule.' "
I dont know but I’ll bet Verizon is using the technology.
I dont want verizon service though, from what Ive seen they are ripoff artists
If worse comes to worse I'll just transfer over to verizon, But ATT has the same price as well. A quick google search shows me that there are tons of options.
About a year ago, I switched from Verizon to Vonage. My bill went from $56 per month to about $27. It would suck to have to switch back.
So Verizon isnt unlimited?
I suspected verizon would use billing tricks
They have the most annoying commercial I’ve ever heard bar none and I would never purchase anything from them for that reason alone.
My home phone through Vonage has been unable to recieve calls all day today - but can call out.
I also cannot log into my account on their website - it just times out - and the phone support cue is inpenetrable as always.
Other than times like this, every few months, I’ve enjoyed having Vonage for the past year plus.
I don’t understand the imposition of the “no new sign-ups” remedy. If Vonage loses the whole shebang later, it can be made to disgorge revenues from new customers (or, if Vonage gets taken over by the plaintiff, those new customers will simply become the PLAINTIFF’s customers). It’s not as if blocking new signups is required to prevent Vonage from “getting away with” anything.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.