Vonage is ordered to pay Verizon $120 million in damages.
It’s not the news Vonage executives wanted to hear. The company was refused leave to appeal the decision that left it owing $120 million in damages toVerizon. The US Court of Appeals turned down Vonage’s application, which related to a case involving three patents that Verizon owned relating toVoice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calling. Under the settlement, Vonage will pay $117.5 million to Verizon and another £2.5 million to charity. This follows another patentsettlement with Sprint that saw Vonage having to pay $80 million. "We were not surprised, but disappointed that the court denied our request for arehearing of the case," Charlie Sahner, a spokesman for Vonage, told Bloomberg News."We are pleased to continue putting litigation behind us." Vonage share prices stood at $2 on Friday, and the company has already announced that it might not be able to meet debts coming due in December next year.
