Vonage reached a settlement agreement with Verizon in patent dispute between the two companies. The deal calls for Vonage to pay Verizon $80 million if the U.S. Court of Appeals still agrees to hear its appeal of the earlier ruling that was in favor of Verizon, and $117.5 million if the appeal is turned away. Vonage also gets access to the two patents in question.
Vonage's problems aren't over yet, as it still has an AT&T lawsuit to deal with, and--oh, there's that matter of competing with all those telcos and cable TV firms that are rapidly getting much more proficient with VoIP. But, the VoIP juggernaut (or maybe we should say former juggernaut) is now moving efficiently to resolve its patent disputes, and with its shares rising in after-hours trading yesterday, maybe it's making believers of some people. Can it overcome the cost of these disputes, as well as thickening competition?
For more:
- The New York Times has the story
Related articles:
- AT&T sued Vonage earlier this week