Verizon Sues Vonage in a Patent Dispute

VERIZON SUES VONAGE IN A PATENT DISPUTE
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Matt Richtel & Ken Belsen]
Vonage, the Internet telephone start-up, said yesterday that it was being sued by Verizon Communications in a dispute over the underlying technology that allows voice calls to be delivered over the Internet. The lawsuit adds a new challenge for Vonage, whose stock price has fallen precipitously since it went public last month. Verizon is accusing Vonage of violating "at least" seven patents, according to the complaint, which was filed June 12 in Federal District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia. Among its claims, Verizon contends that Vonage has used some of its technology that allows voice calls to be transferred from the Internet onto the traditional telephone network. It is unclear whether the technology covered by those patents is being used in Verizon's consumer Internet phone service, called VoiceWing. Significantly, the lawsuit -- as is sometimes the case in patent suits -- does not ask the court to halt Vonage's operations immediately, but does ask the court to do so if the matter is resolved in Verizon's favor. Legal experts said it could take more than a year for the case to work its way through the system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/technology/20vonage.html
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