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Vonage Signs Deal to Escape Patent Infringement

Posted by Zonk on from the dodge-this dept.

Tone Def writes "In the wake of a court injunction barring Vonage from infringing on three Verizon patents, the VoIP provider has signed an agreement with VoIP, Inc. to carry all Vonage calls over its network. Two of the Verizon patents Vonage was found to have infringed covered connecting VoIP calls to switched networks, so the agreement means Vonage is no longer infringing those patents. 'By signing the agreement with VoIP, Inc., Vonage has provided itself with a measure of protection against the injunction. VoIP, Inc. owns its own network, describing VOICEONE as the "first, seamless nationwide IP network." Perhaps most crucially from Vonage's standpoint, VoIP, Inc. claims to own the intellectual property around its network and services.'"

7 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. How about the third patent? by gravesb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I will assume that VIOP will indemnify Vonage when they lose a patent case in court, but what about the third patent Vonage "infringed" upon? What services will they have to restrict in order to avoid violating that patent?

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    1. Re:How about the third patent? by BlueTrin · · Score: 5, Interesting

      From the vague description of the patents, it seems that these so-called patents are alit bit abusive, I wonder if the patent system should not be changed so in the case of an invalid patent, you would have to pay a fee for trying to abuse the system.

      There is no barrier to make a patent, for a company it is ridiculously easy and cheap, an australian lawyer even patented the wheel to prove the flaws in the system.

      I work in trading and saw that Goldman patented an automatic trading system, but the description is so vague that anything that would be a database + a statistical engine + an order system could fall under this patent, it is quite ridiculous since there is no other way to make an automatic trading system, and since the patent is only from the late 90s I know that people wrote such systems before they patented it ...

      IMHO an invalid patent should be punishable by a fine.

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  2. Meanwhile, at Verizon HQ... by Billosaur · · Score: 4, Funny

    Curses!!! Foiled Again!!!

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  3. Re:Just curious how old are these patents by Malc · · Score: 3, Funny

    Your old boss has worked for Verizon for the last 11 years. :P

  4. Re:VoIP calls from WiFi Phones? by teh_chrizzle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Also, aren't there Skype phones that do this? Why isn't Verizon suing them?

    don't worry, once a sufficiently large portion of the customer disconnections are attributed to skype, they too will be sued.

    it's importnat, however, to wait for the "infringer" in question to get close to profitability before slapping the infringment case on them.

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  5. Vonage says it is NOT patent-related. by Dekortage · · Score: 4, Informative

    Note the end on the Ars article:

    Update: After the story ran, Ars was contacted by a Vonage spokesperson that claimed that the agreement with VoIP, Inc. has "nothing to do with the patent situation." She described the deal as another termination deal similar to those Vonage has signed with other carriers, reiterating that the agreement was unrelated to the Verizon agreement. However, an unnamed source at VoIP, Inc. suggested to TelecomWeb that Vonage would indeed be using its network to carry its calls, while refusing to speculate about the patent dustup.

    So supposedly it's just biz as usual.

    I am a Vonage customer. I'm actually satisfied with it, despite all the negative reviews that other Slashdotters give it. It is still more reliable and higher-quality than my land line ever was. Verizon owns the physical lines in my part of New York. As Verizon's own linemen have told me, the switching equipment in my neighborhood is so old that it can't support caller ID, for example, and dial-up phone connections (in case of cable modem downtime) max out at 14.4k because of the fuzziness and static on the line. And Verizon has no plans to upgrade. Thanks. (Of course I can't use dial-up over Vonage, but I have an alternative backup -- wireless EVDO service, at near broadband speeds... sadly THAT is through Verizon because they have the best wireless service in my area.)

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  6. Pure FUD. by Belial6 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pure FUD. POTS is referring to the analog service that is provided by the incumbent phone companies. If the existing analog service disappeared tomorrow, you would just see a rise in competition from digital services. You would also see better SLAs from digital providers. The biggest problems with things like 911 on Vonage are not caused because Vonage cannot or will not provide the service. It is caused because the current POTS providers put up actual road blocks to prevent interoperability. Once set up, my ISP has had 99.9% up-time. I have lived in places in the US that had worse up-time. My cell phone has never been down when I tried to use it inside my home. The whole, "Your going to die if you don't pay the incumbent phone company." line is FUD. Pure FUD. When you stop leaving the safety of your POTS, then you can talk. I personally leave my home on occasion, and thus have no access to 911 via my POTS line.