Wednesday, 2 May 2007

Vonage Asks for Retrial in Verizon Case

Vonage has lost a crucial case that threatens the very existence of the company, with the dark flag of bankruptcy being waved at them. The company had to cough up USD 58 million to Verizon in a patent infringement lawsuit, and a federal judge had issued a permanent injunction against it. In the wake of all this trouble Vonage is left without its chief executive as Michael Snyder decided to resign from the company.

Now Vonage wants a re-trial and maintains that it did not infringe on Verizon's patents. "Everyone knows you can't patent an orange, but you can - and someone likely already does - hold the patent for an orange picker," said Vonage's chief legal officer Sharon O'Leary in a statement. "According to the Supreme Court's ruling, if you patent an orange picker, and then someone else comes along and puts a glove on it to protect the oranges against bruising, you can't patent this new invention as "novel" as it is just an obvious improvement of the original invention."

"We are very encouraged by the Supreme Court's decision and the giant step it represents towards achieving much-needed patent reform in this country," said Vonage interim CEO Jeffrey Citron. "The Supreme Court's decision should have positive implications for Vonage and our pending patent litigation with Verizon."