SAN FRANCISCO - A US judge on Friday blocked Vonage from signing up new customers in the wake of a jury verdict that the Internet telephony company had violated patents of rival Verizon.
US District Court Judge Claude Hilton`s ruling allowed Vonage to keep its approximately 2.2 million current customers while it appealed the verdict.
"Judge Hilton exercised the court`s equitable discretion to craft a middle path that allows Vonage to continue serving its existing customers while protecting Verizons patents from increased infringement during the appeal process," Verizon said in a written statement.
"We expect Judge Hilton to be affirmed on appeal."
Verizon filed suit against the New Jersey-based, cut-rate Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) company in US District Court for the Virginia Eastern District in 2006.
Verizon, which has its headquarters in New York City, accused Vonage of infringing on five of its patents involving online telephony.
A two-week trial ended on March 8 with jurors finding that Vonage had infringed on three Verizon`s patents.
The jury ordered the start-up to pay Verizon 58 million dollars for its transgressions and to pay Verizon royalties amounting to 5.5 percent of revenues if it continues using the technology.
Vonage depicted the verdict as a victory, emphasizing that Verizon had succeeded with only three of its claims and that the damages awarded were much less than the 197 million dollars Verizon asked for in court.
Vonage said after the verdict that it expected to get the findings against it reversed on appeal and that it intended to ask a federal appeals court to stay any injunction.
04/06/2007 21:47 GMT