VoIP service provider Vonage has been accused by telco giant Verizon Communications of patent infringement, and has been fighting for its survival after a court last month found against Vonage and ordered it to pay Verizon US$58 million (A$71.12 million) in damages.
The ruling also ordered Vonage to pay Verizon 5.5 per cent of all its future sales in payment for use of its patents.
A later ruling also barred Vonage from signing up new customers from April 12, putting the company’s very survival at risk.
But hours before the Easter Break, Vonage said it had secured a temporary stay from the US Court of Appeals in Washington DC.
“The stay enables Vonage to continue to sign up new customers until the appellate court can hear Vonage's request for a permanent stay,” the company said in a statement.
“The Court's ruling allows Vonage to continue to provide phone service to existing customers,” the company said.
However, Vonage is still in a fight for its life, in an action that sends a note of caution to the burgeoning value-added VoIP services market all over the world.
Verizon said there were no surprises in the court ruling for Vonage, saying it was just the logical procedural next-step in what is an on-going fight.
Vonage is one of the pioneering VoIP providers in the US, with more than 2.2 million subscriber lines. The company says its technology lets anyone make phone calls with a touch tone telephone from almost anywhere a broadband internet connection is available.
For more VoIP & IP Comms news, click here.
