Appeals Court Allows Vonage to Do Business

Apr 07, 07:20 AM

Current Headlines: Bloomberg News

Vonage Holdings Corp., barred by a federal judge from signing up new customers while it appeals a ruling that it infringed three Verizon Communications Inc. patents, won a delay of the order from an appeals court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington on Friday issued a temporary stay of the customer ban by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria. Hilton did grant Vonage's request that he delay enforcement of his March infringement ruling as the Internet phone service provider seeks to overturn his ban on its use of Verizon technology.

Hilton's delay of the infringement ruling does give Vonage time to develop a "workaround," technology that handles the same tasks as the inventions at issue. The judge ruled last month that Vonage infringes Verizon patents covering technology that permits switching Internet calls to standard phone lines and voicemail.

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