Vonage Settles With Verizon for at Least $80M

netbuzz writes "Fresh off agreeing to pay Sprint Nextel $80 million earlier this month, Vonage has now agreed to compensate Verizon at least $80 million to settle their patent dispute, and the total could hit $117 million depending on the outcome of appeals Vonage has pending. 'If Vonage wins rehearing on either the '574 or '711 patent or if the injunction is vacated as to the '574 or '711 patent, Vonage will pay Verizon $80 million. If Vonage does not win rehearing on either the '574 or '711 patent, or if the stay is lifted reinstating the injunction, Vonage will pay Verizon $117.5 million.' And, of course, don't forget AT&T just recently opened charges against the company as well."

Comments

Pattent Trolls

[Anonymous Coward]

"And, of course, don't forget AT&T just recently opened charges against the company as well."

yea because AT&T invented voice over packet technology in friggen 2002. It never existed before that.

voice over frame relay has been around for more than 20 years. telco's are a bunch of selfish a-holes who make outrageous claims that are allowed to go unchallenged. Its time for some vigilante justice... how about some random knee cappings ala Nancy Kerrigan on all members of the telcom board of directors.

Re:Pattent Trolls

[jonesy16]

I have to agree with the other poster whose comment got modded down. While I agree that not buying services from these companies would hurt them (duh), it isn't feasible. In most parts of the country you don't have too many options for a) land telephone, b) internet access, c) cell phone w/ reception. Odds are that in order to get at least one of those three services you're going to have to pony up to Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint. T-Mobile and US Cellular have pretty poor reception where I am. Verizon and Comcast are the only internet providers (and that's really a lesser of two evils) unless you want to go wireless (satellite, etc, $$$). And Verizon is the only POTS provider. So the only way that I can hurt them is to cease my communication to the outside world.

The size of these companies and their control are beyond the scope of what consumers can affect. They muscle competition off of the playing field which has led to the helplessness of consumers at this point. But hey, it's part of the cycle. Another decade or so, after AT&T/Verizon/Sprint have all merged again and widened our collective sphincters a good couple of inches, maybe the governemtn will break them up and we'll start the whole cycle again.

Re:Pattent Trolls

[jimstapleton]

Actually, they don't have to go cold turkey.

Find the most offensive one or two. Boycott them. They are forced to change to stay in business.

Suddenly, the ones that you didn't boycott lose their market share as the formerly boycotted companies pick up a lot of clients. Even though they have had profit for a while, the non-boycotted companies will find their coffers significantly less lined. They now have to fall into line, and make the same changes.

The trick isn't boycotting everyone, just one that can be influential. Now, the problem is getting people organized and boycotting the SAME company, that's a challange.

Re:Pattent Trolls

[Volante3192]

Hit them in their pocketbook? You know who that *really* hits, right? Customers.

Hit them where it REALLY hurts. Pull away their sole right to the lines and put it in a government owned utility company whose sole purpose is to upgrade and maintain the lines. Slap em with common carrier status. Stick em in the Tower of London and make them part of the tour.

We can do a lot better than just 'pocketbook' here.

Re:Pattent Trolls

[timeOday]

I hate the local telco so much I went "vonage only." Through these lawsuits I'll still be paying the local telco anyways. You just can't escape.

Re:Pattent Trolls

[HumanPenguin]

Same here.

but I am still stuck with the voids surrounded by sphincter muscles Comcast. It really is impossible to get a telephone line without one of the big phone companies or the cable monopoly now.

Also as the main reason I have vonage is for free calls and a local phone line in the UK.

There is no other US alternative.

The world IS getting smaller and technology is passing the big Telco's because they have sat on their monopolies rather then use their innovations.

instead of providing services customers want to pay for they stick their head in the void and sue innovators or bribe politicians.

Re:Pattent Trolls

[morgan_greywolf]

So the only way that I can hurt them is to cease my communication to the outside world. Okay, so where I am there is only Verizon and Bright House Networks for high-speed internet and Verizon is the only POTS provider. I use Bright House for Internet, Vonage for VOIP. I don't have a landline. I use Sprint for wireless because I'm stuck in a contract and unwilling to pay to get out of it. So of all the companies you listed, I only use one of them. I could just as easily switch to T-Mobile, though, once my contract is up.

Like another poster said, you pick the most influential. Everyone boycott Verizon and AT&T. (Oh wait, sorry, this is Slashdot and the rabid, foaming at the mouth Apple geeks probably won't boycott AT&T. ;) )

Re:Pattent Trolls

[Shakrai]

Find the most offensive one or two

That would be AT&T, followed by Verizon.

Boycott them

You can boycott them at one level but you can't escape the fact that sooner or later your money (however indirectly) will end up in their hands. I ditched Verizon POTS service for Verizon Wireless and later ditched them for T-Mobile. Now my money is going to little pink instead of big red, right?

Of course T-Mobile has to purchase their connections to the PSTN from someone...... gee, I wonder who that is in New York State?

Granted, it's still somewhat effective, and I'm much happier for not giving them any money, but don't think that Verizon and AT&T don't have a death-grip on all of our collective balls, regardless of whether or not you do business with them directly.

I can't believe I used to defend these scumbags. Using the courts to kill competitive upstarts, hogging all of the wireless spectrum to prevent newcomers (did you know that in some markets AT&T owns 75% of the available Cellular and PCS bands?), removing the copper from your house to prevent you from switching to a CLEC, etc, etc, etc.

I know Communism has been tried before and doesn't work, but it's business practices like these that start to make me wonder if Karl Marx didn't have an idea or two......

Vonage looks great!

[Big Nothing]

This "Vonage" company seems stable and solid - where can i purchase some stock in the company?

What if it wins both patents?

[morgan_greywolf]

What if it wins both patents? Vonage shouldn't have to pay anything. Instead, they've agreed to be $80 million in protection money to the mobster Verizon. Can anyone say RICO?

what is this going to do for other VoIP providers?

[Lumpy]

I chose Broadvoice over Vonnage because I wanted Open access. I.E. use my gear unlocked, use asterisk, etc...

Will Other Voip companies be targeted after Vonnage is decimated by the telcos?

Re:Don't forget, no net neutrality

[morgan_greywolf]

Once they finish paying all the phone companies for the patents, then the phone and cable companies will come back and demand extra payment to use their networks. Otherwise, Vonage customers will watch their service degrade until it's unusable. This will continue until Vonage is bankrupt. Exactly. All of this corporate racketeering by the telcos has got to be stopped. Hello? EFF? Where are you?

Note to self...

[JK_the_Slacker]

...Call lawyer. Have him sue Vonage for patent infringement.

You know?

[Penguinisto]

This is going to sound bad, but it's stories like this that make me feel not so bad when some tiny company (like, say, Eolas) comes along and hammers a big company.

IMHO, software patents in and of themselves suck, but there's a bit of me hoping like Hell that Verizon, AT&T, and all their kith and kin get slammed (soon) with a multi-billion-dollar patent lawsuit from some tiny company no one has ever heard of. Something big enough to hurt.

(or at least something big enough to get legislative attention and end this whole software patent silliness...)

/P

Tell me again

[zappepcs]

how software patents are supposed to protect innovation?
Seems pretty clear that they are only being used to protect big businesses, or as weapons by patent trolls. When the patent system itself became a business (patent trolls) it should have been the wake up call to fix what is obviously broken.

I know that companies are in business to make money, but this kind of heavy handed business practice is not necessary. This type of situation is an example of exactly why people would not be encouraged to start a business. You have to invest a lot of money/resources to ensure that you will not be sued into oblivion just to risk starting up a business. Software patents are WRONG, and the USPTO/patent system is BROKEN.

Yes, we all know that, now what do we do about it?

I used to feel bad for Vonage

[Nigel_Powers]

Until I canceled my service with them. I was hassled by their offshored customer retention staff, offered months of free service, pleas for me to leave my account on inactive status, anything except cancel. And when I insisted, I then found out about the $39 disconnect fee -- what a crock.

Fuck Vonage!