It’s not good, but it could have been much, much worse. A federal jury has found that Vonage Holdings Corp. infringed on three key patents owned by Verizon ( News - Alert) Communications Inc.
An eight-member jury found that Vonage must pay Verizon $58 million in past damages. The jury also declared that Vonage ( News - Alert) must pay a 5.5 percent royalty rate on any sales going forward.
While still a far cry from the $197 million in damages sought by Verizon, Vonage shareholders saw the stock price drop slip nearly 4 percent.
It was the belief of the jury that Vonage was guilty of patent infringement in the following areas:
- technology used to bridge Internet calls to the traditional phone system
- features such as call-waiting and voice-mail
- wireless Internet phone calls.
Meanwhile a U.S. Judge has set a hearing for March 23 to hear arguments on whether an injunction barring Vonage's use of the technologies covered by the patents is necessary. Immediately after the verdict was issued, Verizon requested such an injunction.
Verizon issued a statement:
"Patents encourage and protect innovations that benefit consumers, create jobs, and keep the economy growing. Verizon’s innovations are central to its strategy of building the best communications networks in the world. We are proud of our inventors ad pleased the jury stood up for the legal protections they deserve."
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