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Vonage Loses Appeal; Verizon Owed $120 Million

Posted by Zonk on from the need-to-get-out-of-the-spanking-machine dept.

Billosaur writes "Things do not look good for Vonage. Yesterday, they lost their request for reconsideration of their settlement with Verizon. This means Vonage owes Verizon $120 million to end the patent lawsuit filed against them. The costs associated with defending the case have cut into Vonage's bottom line, and despite attempts to cut costs by laying off 10% of their workforce, they may be unable to make a payment against their debt come December. According to the settlement, Vonage will pay $117.5 million to Verizon and another $2.5 million dollars to charity. Vonage's shares have dropped 87% since their IPO, now hovering around $1.50 per share."

1 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I've Got Their Number by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Due to the often taboo nature of strap-on activities, information on their history is hard to find. An 1899 report by Haberlandt documented current and historical use of double-ended dildos in Zanzibar, and is one of the few historical documents of this kind. Female-female dildo usage in ancient China has been documented, but it is not clear if this was double-dildos, strap-on dildos, or just a simple dildo being used by one woman on another. In ancient Greece, dildos were made of stone or padded leather, and some evidence shows aforementioned leather was used to make a harness as well, with olive oil used for anal penetration. A double-penetration dildo was found in ancient France, but its use is lost to time. A 19th century Chinese painting shows a woman using a dildo strapped to her shoe, showing that creative use of strap-ons was already well under way. Many artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic have been found that appear to be dildos, including a double "baton" with a hole in the middle, theorized to be for a strap to hold it to a wearer. The Kama Sutra includes mention of dildos made from a wide variety of materials, and used by hand, with ties (straps), or in a harness. It is likely the history of the strap-on parallels the history of the dildo, and given the age of many discoveries, is a rather long history.