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Verizon Sues Vonage over VOIP
By Larry Hendrick | June 20, 2006
People that use Vonage for their primary telephone service should pay close attention to this article and the ensuing lawsuit. Verizon holds a large number of VoIP patents and Vonage holds zero, yet uses many patented technologies to provide their VoIP telephone service.
Verizon is asking for an injunction against Vonage, which could shut down telephone service to a few hundred thousand people. Verizon is also looking for monetary damages for the use of patented technologies from Vonage which could cripple an already hurting company.
Vonage went public last month and is also fighting a class action lawsuit (from investors) over the immediate loss of stock value on IPO day. This for a company that is yet to see a profit and has a huge burn rate on existing funds.
Verizon Sues Vonage over VOIP
The suit points out that Verizon not only invented the technologies, but has commercialized them in its VoiceWing product line that competes with Vonage.A few patent suits have been criticized recently because the companies holding the patents were not actively using them.