Light Reading reports a District Court in Virginia today found Vonage guilty of infringing three Verizon VOIP patents and ordered Vonage to pay $58 million in damages. (See Jury Rules on Vonage.) The trial lasted one week.
The eight-member jury ruled against Vonage on three patents covering technology that enables voicemail and call waiting for VOIP, transfers VOIP calls to the PSTN, and moves VOIP calls over wireless networks. Vonage was found not guilty of infringing patents covering technology that creates and authenticates billing records for VOIP calls.
Verizon also filed an injunction to stop Vonage from using the technology covered by the three patents, or to force Vonage to pay a licensing fee. U.S. District Court Judge Claude Hilton scheduled a March 23 hearing to consider the request.
Both companies claimed victory.
“We are proud of our inventors and pleased the jury stood up for the legal protections they deserve,” Verizon attorneys said in a statement.
“Of the seven patents Verizon originally sued on, they prevailed on only three and we expect that verdict to be reversed on appeal,” Vonage said in a statement following the verdict.
In filing the suit, Verizon had argued that Vonage has built a business and made a handsome living on the Verizon technology in question. Vonage argued that Verizon is simply trying to kill off a competitor that is stealing away land-line customers. (See Vonage Slams Verizon Lawsuit .)
Verizon has its own VOIP product, called VoiceWing. But VoiceWing is more expensive than Vonage, and Verizon hasn’t aggressively marketed it.
Though Vonage was cleared of wrongdoing on four of the seven counts it faced — and the financial penalty was a fraction of what Verizon was seeking — the stakes remain high for Vonage. In addition to the $58 million one-time payment, Vonage was ordered to pay royalties equivalent to 5.5 percent of its monthly subscription fees from each user.
Still undetermined is whether Vonage will be barred from using Verizon’s technology or how the verdict might affect the Internet phone company’s 2.2 million subscribers.
