Somewhere Over the Atlantic

The recent legal victory by Verizon over Vonage, over infringement of what it claims are fundamental VOIP patents, left the VOIP vendor scurrying for a technical workaround.

Today, however, Vonage admitted that it has no workaround and does not know if one is feasible, leaving analysts to question how long the company can survive.

It appears that the patents are broad enough to allow Verizon to go after other similar mainstream VOIP options like SunRocket, Skype (SkypeIn), etc. If this is the case, how severely does this limit future options of the mainstream consumer VOIP industry?

Could Verizon also go after SIP providers like Vitelity and the niche players that feed service to Asterisk users?

ScottC

I haven't read enough on this, but from what I did read, it would seem like any VOIP provider that has a VOIP to POTS gateway is a potential target of this lawsuit.

jason8612

Now I got to figure out how to port my number out of vonage...

UScolorado1k

Me too, and just after I finished my conversion of work and home numbers to Vonage !

ScottC

Good luck with that. I've tried to port it out with 2 different providers and failed

dAAzedone

I ported my number out of Vonage back to AT&T since I was having issues with my TiVo and alarm system with Vonage. The only problem I have is that Vonage still thinks my number is still with them so anyone with Vonage that calls my number gets a "number is disconnected" message. It is a pain since I have several friends in Asia that use Vonage to call me. I just have them call my cell. I have not been able to get Vonage to fix it.

ScottC

Was your number originally with ATT? My number was a new one on Vonage and that seems to be the root of the problem.

coxta

Verizon may buy Vonage. I don't think that's a great solution for the consumers, and probably not for Vonage.

GUWonder

If Vonage feels like it's a lost cause, a sale to Verizon probably isn't a bad idea for Vonage's shareholders. At some low price, Verizon would eat it up.

Rand0mized

I definitely think it is a horrible idea. I really hope we do not see the end of Vonage. They were a great company. I know so many that use it.

I personally am satisifed with Skype, but Vonage did some really did a great job getting VoIP to the masses.

newportgambler

i'm all for vonage and a current customer, but if they blatantly stole patents and information from verizon, thats a huge nightmare and the $$ that they have to come up with will put them under.

If they aren't able to get a longer injunction or a judge on their side, they will have to sell out to a larger company and the other company will absorb their customers and technology. Will probably be a cheap purchase for Verizon/Sprint/etc...

Somewhere Over the Atlantic

Fortunately, Vonage did win a permanent stay today from the injunction.

cressers

Getting customers puts their financial plans slightly back on track, but there is consumer confidence to factor in.... time will fell how that has affected things.

I understand that the patents have extensive prior art, and thus should be invalid. The judge in the case refused to hear arfuments about the patents validity, which was very odd, and the case was unusally swift based on similar trials.

Now that they can sign customers, it is not so doom and gloom, and I am sure they willl find some investors to pony up some cash for legal fees.

Trouble is, they have a lot of investors then, and they are going to want to see a return on their money, so we then come back to selling/merging the company.

I think its only a matter of time before one of the large carriers embraces VOIP, its an inevitable step, best to define the market and bundling, than to be led by the consumers.

newportgambler

glad to hear that vonage won their case and it'll continue onward in the courts. i signup a lot of small businesses on vonage and being able to refer customers to them still is a huge plus.

nerd

Here's short, relatively accessible though somewhat technical overview of the patents:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...or-reform.html