Why Vonage vs. Verizon suit could bring further bad news to Vonage customers

Verizon wants to prevent Vonage customers from connecting to the PSTN

VoIP, unified messaging, products and services

Last week, Vonage was ordered by a federal jury in Virginia to pay Verizon $58 million in a patent infringement suit that centered on how Vonage connects its calls between its VoIP network and the PSTN. Vonage was also found guilty of infringements in its techniques to provide call forwarding and voice mail, and how Vonage provides VoIP connectivity to 802.11 wireless phones.

While the verdict is bad news for Vonage, it might get worse for the company because Verizon has also asked a federal judge to issue an injunction that would prevent Vonage customers from connecting to the PSTN — essentially limiting Vonage customers to making calls only to other Vonage customers. The court has scheduled a hearing on Verizon’s request for March 23, according to the Washington Post.

In its statement, Vonage said it was “delighted that the jury rejected Verizon's meritless claim that we infringed their two billing patents.” The statement continues: “In addition, we don't believe there is any basis to support Verizon's request for an injunction and we will have the opportunity to present our position to the trial court shortly. If the trial court does impose an injunction, we will seek an immediate stay from the Federal Court of Appeals. Vonage customers should see no change to any aspect of their phone service.”

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Last week, Vonage was ordered by a federal jury in Virginia to pay Verizon $58 million in a patent infringement suit that centered on how Vonage connects its calls between its VoIP network and the PSTN. Vonage was also found guilty of infringements in its techniques to provide call forwarding and voice mail, and how Vonage provides VoIP connectivity to 802.11 wireless phones.

While the verdict is bad news for Vonage, it might get worse for the company because Verizon has also asked a federal judge to issue an injunction that would prevent Vonage customers from connecting to the PSTN — essentially limiting Vonage customers to making calls only to other Vonage customers. The court has scheduled a hearing on Verizon’s request for March 23, according to the Washington Post.

In its statement, Vonage said it was “delighted that the jury rejected Verizon's meritless claim that we infringed their two billing patents.” The statement continues: “In addition, we don't believe there is any basis to support Verizon's request for an injunction and we will have the opportunity to present our position to the trial court shortly. If the trial court does impose an injunction, we will seek an immediate stay from the Federal Court of Appeals. Vonage customers should see no change to any aspect of their phone service.”

In Verizon’s prepared statement, John Thorne, senior vice president and deputy general counsel said: "Patents encourage and protect innovations that benefit consumers, create jobs and keep the economy growing. Verizon's innovations are central to its strategy of building the best communications networks in the world. We are proud of our inventors and pleased the jury stood up for the legal protections they deserve."

It looks like our prediction last week about more litigation was correct, and we’ll keep our readers posted on any news about the proposed injunction.

Next time, Larry will report in from VoiceCon.

Read more about voip & convergence in Network World's VoIP & Convergence section.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis.