14 DAY TRIAL // As was to be expected, the VoIP provider Vonage seems to have hit further problems with finding a solution to avoid infringing upon Verizon's patents and continue to provide services to its customers.
In June last year, Verizon has sued Vonage claiming that the company had infringed upon patented technology for routing calls between the Internet and regular mobile phone networks. This resulted in Vonage being banned from using the technology to service new customers. The company's existing customers were not affected. Having been found guilty of infringing upon Verizon's aforementioned patents, Vonage was to also pay $58 million monetary damages.
Recently the VoIP company admitted that it had no workaround to settle the whole patent dispute and even confirmed that a solution is not feasible given the strength of the patents. According to a the statement : "Vonage currently has no workarounds that moot the need for a stay. While Vonage has studied methods for designing around the patents, removal of the allegedly infringing technology, if even feasible, could take many months to fully study and implement."
As a result, the company's shares have dropped for more than 80 percent since last year and CEO Mike Snyder decided to resign last week. Aside from that, Vonage is also loosing customers, with 2.5 percent out of its 2.2 million users giving up the company each month. Of course, for some people this would be a sure sign that Vonage is going to hit bankruptcy soon. But several analysts think otherwise. According to them, Verizon's patents might be illegitimate as they are based on VocalTec technology that dates back to 1996.