14 DAY TRIAL // Wireless carrier Verizon has filed a suit against Vonage last June, claiming that the company has violated several of its patents.
The suit regarded the technology used by Vonage to connect calls from its Internet Protocol service to phones on the traditional network. From Vonage's point of view, no patents were violated and the company claims that it uses standards-based and widely available technology.
"First of all, we don't think we have violated any of Verizon's patents," company spokeswoman Brooke Schulz said. "But if the court finds that we do, we will come up with a solution. And we won't have to shut off service to our customers."
Verizon doesn't share this opinion and has asked for monetary damages and an injunction, which means that if Verizon wins, Vonage will be forced to give up its service or find another solution that doesn't violate the patents.
Things have been tough for Vonage as it is, with a slow increase in subscriber numbers, compared to other cable operator's record setting subscriber growth.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Vonage has managed to add only 166,000 new subscribers for its VoIP service which was considerably less than the subscriber number they added in the second and third quarters. While the company has been spending massively on advertising, most of its adverts that were designed to create more brand awareness have been a flop.