AT&T Hits Vonage With Another Patent Suit

VoIP Vonage operator Vonage can't seem to find clear water in a sea of patents.

VoIP provider Vonage can’t seem to catch a break in the arena of patents and intellectual property. The company has long been embroiled in a high-stakes patent infringement case with Verizon, with judgments against Vonage having had the company facing imminent shutdown. The company is still operating while it tries to get the case overturned on appeal, but in the meantime it has been forced to settle with Sprint for $80 million over another patent infringement matter.

Now, the VoIP provider has been taken to court by telecommunications giant AT&T, which filed a lawsuit in a Wisconsin federal court last week accusing the company of violating a single patent (believed to be #6,487,200) related to linking standard telephone service to the Internet. According to media reports and Vonage’s SEC filings, the two companies have been trying to negotiate a solution for months, but those efforts apparently broke down.

AT&T is requesting an injunction on Vonage’s use of the technology, compensation, attorney’s fees, and triple damages stemming from Vonage’s use of the technology.

Vonage has not publicly responded to the suit, and had not returned requests for comment.