RSSAct IV: Nortel drags Vonage back to court
By Ed Oswald | Published December 17, 2007, 2:59 PM
The networking company says that Vonage is violating nine of its patents, including those related to emergency and information calls, as well as click-to-call functionality.
Just when it seemed Vonage might be able to spend the winter out of court, it finds itself dragged back in. Nortel filed suit against the VoIP provider last Friday in US District Court for the State of Delaware, seeking an injunction against it to prevent further use of what Nortel claims to be its technologies.
Nortel's move is in response to a suit by the VoIP provider that claims it violated three patents it holds. Vonage acquired the patents from Digital Packet Licensing in July 2006, which may have had a pending case against Nortel since 2004.
You'd think it would be easy enough to say whether or not someone had already sued someone else. But this February 2006 letter from DPL to Nortel was apparently an unusual way of saying it wasn't really suing Nortel at all...just moving it in the general direction of a courtroom.
Vonage decided to continue the non-lawsuit lawsuit after the acquisition. It marks a rare point in the VoIP provider's recent history where it was the one suing rather than the one getting sued.
Litigation in that suit is ongoing, but Vonage said it was not against settling out of court. Like many patent fights, it appears Nortel sued the VoIP provider more out of an attempt to force Vonage's hand at the bargaining table.
Nortel's suit "is a countersuit in defense," its spokesperson said -- a way of saying we wouldn't be suing you unless you were suing us.
So, what makes Vonage so different from the other VoIP providers that they're the only 'tastey' ones? I mean, there are quite a few others correct? What tech did Vonage steal that's not similar or existent in other VoIP offerings, because gosh do I feel bad for them when V goes under, and by the looks of it, they WILL go under.
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Vonage is just about the ONLY voip name that even begins to register with mainstream consumers.
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> Why don't you complain about Vonage raping IP from so many different companies?
IP laws are ridiculous to begin with. Listen to Richard Stallman talk about IP sometime. Patents are typically awarded pretty broadly and cover ideas that anyone could come up with. Most companies are awarded an insane number of patents and they barter with each other that they won't sue each over for access to each others IP. The small company is typically crippled because of the broad range of IP out there and it's almost impossible for them not to trip over some IP somewhere or another. IP was originally created as a way to protect small inventors from big companies coming in and muscling them out of business. Now the big companies fight for them and they've bas****ized their purpose. The small inventor can't even say I have a patent to protect them because the big companies probably own 50 patents on insignificant things. Patents hinder not help innovation!
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I may have said it before, but I'll say it again. This is the exact reason I refuse to get Vonage, and unfortunately my mentality (w/ many others that think just like me) are a reason why these lawsuits may be the end for Vonage. I just can't see spending $$ on their hardware and integrating it into my life -- especially if these lawsuits end up bankrupting the company
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Am I the only one here that thinks this is getting a little bit rediculous at this point? How do these companies even have time to run their telecom business when they spend so much time suing each other? I wish these guys would just lock themselves in a room and not come out until they had this settled so we could put all of this lawsuit stuff behind us once and for all and be done with it.
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uh, they have legal departments or firms with hundreds of attorneys. the technicians still are able to do what they do to get stuff done amazingly.
Why don't you complain about Vonage raping IP from so many different companies? Seriously, is it that hard to hire an attorney or two to look into your tech to make sure you aren't infringing on other telecom's IP? I can understand 1 telecom, but Vonage apparently pissed a LOT of them off.
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Well, that may be true, but it also may be a case of Vonage scaring them with "disruptive technology" and a an incredibly fast rocket ride to stardom, like what we have witnessed from them in a short period of time.
Vonage burst on the scene very quickly with a great deal of success in a way that dozens of other companies tried and failed to duplicate. This scared a lot of the big players out there and I think they decided to sic their legal attack dogs on them as a way of dealing with that threat.
Wouldn't be the first time we have seen an innovative, aggressive, fast moving, young tech company face this same fate for these exact reasons.
Many very well funded companies have adpoted the theme of "if you can't beat them, sue them".
Things aren't always what they appear to be on the surface. All I am saying here is that there can be a lot more going on bend the scenes to explain a situation than what meets the eye.
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Now why do you think that is?
I work for a cable company, a small one based mostly in Michigan, and we talked a lot about this a few months ago. Vonage did a lot of things right, they were very quick and successful doing things many of the telecom companies hadn't been able to pull off. So now they are paying the price, don't mess with with the big guns.. cause they have more money than you to waste on lawyers. It's sad to see that a company like Vonage could fall because other companies sue sue sue, when they themselves weren't doing anything.
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> Why don't you complain about Vonage raping IP from so many different companies?
IP laws are ridiculous to begin with. Listen to Richard Stallman talk about IP sometime. Patents are typically awarded pretty broadly and cover ideas that anyone could come up with. Most companies are awarded an insane number of patents and they barter with each other that they won't sue each over for access to each others IP. The small company is typically crippled because of the broad range of IP out there and it's almost impossible for them not to trip over some IP somewhere or another. IP was originally created as a way to protect small inventors from big companies coming in and muscling them out of business. Now the big companies fight for them and they've bas****ized their purpose. The small inventor can't even say I have a patent to protect them because the big companies probably own 50 patents on insignificant things. Patents hinder not help innovation!
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Then change the law. You sound like people complaining about speed traps. Change the law if you don't like it. The people elect the representatives that make the laws.
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They were quick and successful apparently because they ignored IP rights, some of which were known for 10+ years. They also marketed like crazy. So the sheep fell for the marketing. Go sheep.
There are other VoIP companies that didn't, or cross licensed, and they are market leaders: Cisco and Avaya.
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They weren't innovative if they stole IP. At the least they could license the IP. I'd side with Vonage if it was some obscure IP here, but apparently a lot of IP was stolen, because a lot of companies are suing them. Cisco and Avaya aren't getting sued. Do you see a pattern here?
"Things aren't always what they appear to be on the surface. All I am saying here is that there can be a lot more going on bend the scenes to explain a situation than what meets the eye."
I could care less. That is for Vonage's attorneys to figure out, that is why they make hundreds an hour. They didn't do their job, apparently.
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