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Vonage Loses VoIP Case With Verizon
cdrudge writes "A federal jury on Thursday said Vonage Holdings Corp. violated 3 of 5 patents of Verizon Communications Inc. and ordered the upstart Internet-phone company to pay $58m in damages as well as 5.5% in royalty fees per month per customer. Verizon said it would seek an injunction to block Vonage from using its patented technology. The jury did reject Verizon's claim of $200m in damages and that Vonage deliberately violated Verizon's patents. As you might expect, Vonage said it would appeal the decision and seek a stay if an injunction is granted. Judge Claude Hilton set a hearing for March 23 on whether to grant an injunction."
I have searched around and can't find the patent numbers that Verizon is claiming Vonage is violating. Anyone have a link to them or their numbers?
What a sickening outcome - even more sickening is it is just another in an endless farcical parade of patent lawsuits that show no sign of stopping.
I read a few articles on that news this afternoon but they are mainly aimed at the financial aspect of the story. I'm still trying to find what exactly are those patents and what are the larger (if any) implications for VOIP in general. Open Source Software like Asterisk could eventually suffer if Verizon begins a patent war and Vonage was only this first victim.
Traditional carrier are having a hard time adjusting to new technology and they will try anything to keep their old ways to stay relevant. During the last few years this happened in many 'traditional' sectors, music and movies being two of them. In the long run, they will adjust or die but for now all of those dinosaurs are desperate to keep their heads above the water. The crippled patent system is their flotation device...
This quote is from CNN's article on the subject coming from a Verizon lawyer:
"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,"
Enough said!
Ideal:
Person A has a brilliant, rare idea. Person A invests years in refining and expanding said idea. Person A goes out and patents said idea. Person A opens a business with said idea, reaping customer praise and financial reward.
The patent has encouraged creativity and expanded the market.
Reality:
Person A has a somewhat obvious idea. Companys B, C, D, and E without investing in refining or developing the idea run out and patent said idea. Patent is granted to Company B (and sometimes C,D,and E too). Company B sits on patent, preventing anyone else from opening said business in order to protect the large profit margins on their current offering. 15 years later Company B sells the rights to said patent to Clearinghouse F. Clearinghouse F takes the broadest possible view of said patent, and sues everyone in the business. Years of fun in courthouse G ensues.
The patent has prevented the use of the idea or object patented, and has been used to bleed money from companies who do produce things.
The ______ Agenda
they have the worst customer support (Bob aka Habib in India),
Ah - you've never been a verizon customer then.
Constant overbilling, random shut offs of additional services, fees to reinstate the randomly shut off aditional services, $3000 cell phone bills because they accidentally deleted your voice plan from your cellphone account, $2000 data bills because they accidentally deleted the data plan from your blackberry.
>> I cannot even conceive of using 500 minutes in a single month.
Hmm, so you don't have teenage daughters, then?
(Sorry, this is Slashdot. Slashdotter's are not supposed to have girlfriends or wives, therefore children [at least living with them] are relatively unlikly. Silly me)
"Cats like plain crisps"
Like who? I pay about $30 a month for the unlimited service after taxes and charges and I get reliable service. How much more could I ask for? When I pick up the phone I want to hear a dial tone not "Your $6.95/month VOIP Provider is not available, try again later" when I'm going to make a call.
Wow. Someone equating patent infringment to the struggles of civil rights movement--only on Slashdot. Jury nullification is only applicable in criminal cases. Vonage was not charged with a crime; ergo there was nothing to nullify. You might want to read up on the term before using it again.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
5.5% is *never* a drop in the bucket. That's a business-killer even if you're selling stolen cars to people who want to over-pay in a world with no cops.
But... back in the real world... 5.5% is a huge hit to a company that did its own R&D and later found out that someone else went and got the government granted monopoly to the obvious ideas they were using first.
-- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
This is essentially the end of VoIP if this decision holds. Basically, Verizon claims patents on connecting a VoIP line to a PSTN line and on common billing methods for phone service. Verizon was the first one they went after because they are the most high profile. Expect them to leverage this victory to take on anyone else offer VoIP to PSTN service.
With this decision, Verizon has just derailed the horde of VoIP startup/conversion trains rolling down the tracks into the future. I picture a caped, curly-mustached Verizon villain with a box and plunger detonating a high bridge made of glass fiber.
--
make install -not war
Vonage's businss model depends on Verizon, SBC and the other existing phone companies. It depends on utilization of their facilities without paying anything for the use.
I call bullshit.
Vonage doesn't pay for the line, the customer of both Vonage and the ISP pays for the line. If the ISP isn't getting what they think they should get for the traffic, they should jack the rate to their actual customer... the person with the DSL or Cable connection.
The user pays the ISP to get to Vonage, not the other way around.
The whores get mad when the sluts give it away for free.