VONAGE GETS SOME GOOD NEWS
Things were looking pretty grim for Vonage last spring when a Jury awarded $58M to Verizon for patent infringement and Vonage acknowledged that it did not have a work around. Vonage, however, appealed and apparently bought itself enough time to develop a work around. Now the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has remanded the case to the District Court on one of the patents and has vacated both the $58M verdict and the 5.5 percent royalty. Infringement of the other two patents was affirmed. However, Vonage indicates that it has already deployed its work around technology, saving Vonage from the death nail of a permanent injunction.
The only winners here are the lawyers because VoIP is a great offer that delivers real value. Pity since it is likely that Vonage will hemorrhage due to the FUD factor (fear, uncertainty and doubt). And worse, it will give a black eye to all of the other good providers like Net2Phone and Lingo.
I have Net2Phone and I like them because they seem to have focused primarily on developing technology with a great set of features - rather than throw money at campaigns. After more than 10 years, they are not the Johnny come lately so at least I feel safe with them.
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Actually, the lawyers are not the only winners. (I am not opposed to lawyers being winners occasionally due to my occupation, but I strongly prefer when the client is better off too). Verizon is a winner. The public, believe it or not, may be a big winner too. Sometimes much better technology is developed trying to get around a patent than the patent provided in the first place. In the short term, however, Verizon, its stock holds and its counsel are the big winners. Vonage's attorneys get second because they get to re-litigate the matter.
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