Vonage settles with Verizon, owes up to $117.5 million
By Darren Murph 
posted October 25th 2007 4:57PM
posted October 25th 2007 4:57PM
The world's favorite ATM is being hit up for even more coin today, as Vonage (presumably begrudgingly) agreed to resolve the patent lawsuit between it and Verizon. Reportedly, the actual amount that the VoIP provider will be forced to pay "depends on how the Court of Appeals decides Vonage's pending petition for rehearing regarding two of the Verizon patents." The breakdown is like so: if Vonage wins rehearing on either patent in question "or if the injunction is vacated," it'll owe $80 million. If the outfit doesn't win rehearing on either patent or "if the stay is lifted reinstating the injunction," it will soon find its thinning wallet a full $117.5 million lighter. Sounds like a prototypical lose-lose situation (or win-win, depending on perspective).
Some companies are run by lawyers and crooks by design. Vonage is run by these characters by necessity. My sympathy...
Hopefully that's the last of Vonage's woes. They have a great offering but haven't had a chance to focus on enhancements, presumably due to the focus on the lawsuits. Now I'm looking forward to new features.
You'd better hope they don't kick the bucket like SunRocket did a few months ago. They're getting owned by the Big Bells.
Staying afloat might be the best feature you can hope for considering the rough time they're having.
How much does that make? I"m truly curious as to how much Vonage has paid in lawsuit settlements and fees.
I thought Microsoft was the world's favorite ATM?
It is time for AT&T to hit the ATM.
Whenever I think of Vonage, I think of that classy online ad campaign they ran, touting how simple their service was: "Looks like nerds can get back to being dorks."
Oh, wait, I didn't think it was classy. I thought it was stupid.
Boy am I happy this is over....but what about the AT&T lawsuit?!?! Also, check out the after-hours trading...doubled!
Hopefully investors will see the long term value of this company and keep it afloat. The biggest reason for all the lawsuits is that the incumbents that be (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, blah, blah, blah ("Ma Bell")) see Vonage as a threat to their piggy bank and want to litigate it into oblivion. I say keep Vonage going ... let them settle up these lawsuits and watch them recover QUICK. Nobody wants to pay $100/mth for bloated old-guard phone service when you can have feature-rich nationwide service from Vonage for $24.99/mth ... just 2 cents from a HAPPY Vonage customer and advocate (obviously)! :-)
Vonage is the new Lando Calrissian. Seriously, I pray they don't change the bargain any further.
Just a question - does anyone have any insight into the Vonage crystal ball? As a customer for the last few years, its hard to give up $30/month unlimited phone service. Just wondering if I need to get ready to jump ship.