Appeals Court Lets Vonage Sign Up Customers
First Hearing in Verizon Patent-Infringement Appeal Set for June 25
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 4/24/2007 10:50:00 AM
A federal appeals court handed Vonage Holdings a reprieve Tuesday, granting the Internet-phone company a stay of a lower court’s ruling in a patent-infringement case brought by Verizon Communications that would have barred it from signing up new customers.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., granted Vonage a stay of a district court judge’s injunction -- which ordered Vonage to stop using certain Verizon patents for new customers but allowed it to service existing ones -- while it pursues its appeal in the case.
“We thank the appellate court for its thoughtful consideration of the merits of our case," Vonage chairman and interim CEO Jeffrey Citron said in a prepared statement following the ruling.
"It's business as usual for us,” he added. “We remain focused on growing and strengthening our business and driving toward profitability. We continue to believe we have not infringed on any of Verizon's technology and remain optimistic that we will ultimately prevail in this litigation."
The appeals court set an expedited schedule for reviewing the case, with a hearing set for June 25.
Verizon sued the voice-over-Internet-protocol company for patent infringement in June 2006, and a jury in March found Vonage guilty of infringing three Verizon patents and ordered Vonage to pay $58 million in damages plus 5.5% of future revenues.
Two weeks ago, Vonage CEO Michael Snyder resigned and the company said it would lay off about 180 workers as part of an effort to cut costs by $140 million in 2007.
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