Wednesday, April 18th 2007
Vonage Infringing on Verizon copyrights; may be shut down soon
Most people know that Vonage is one of the pioneer Voice over Internet Protocol services, that allows people to use the telephone, running off only the internet. Unfortunately, to make this service happen, Vonage has been using patents owned by Verizon. And Verizon flagged them for this. Verizon wants Vonage to not be able to register any new customers until all patent issues are resolved. And as of the time this case went to court (April 6, 2007), Vonage had no such plans to do so. At this point Vonage has three choices. They can either spend an enormous amount of money re-doing their network so it's all their own, pay Verizon a premium for their technology, or to shut down completely.
Source:
The Inquirer
6 Comments on Vonage Infringing on Verizon copyrights; may be shut down soon
I dont think any other company allows me and my folks to call friends and family in the UK (from texas) for free which is quite nice compared to 13 cents a minute that Time Warner's VOIP offers me right now (and i think its like 23 cents a minute from traditional lines) which saves us a fortune when we have those nice long hour and a half chats across the pond :respect:
My guess is verizon wont settle for anything less than a complete shut down or a full buyout so they can charge what they wish. Its their technology so they can pursue the matter as they wish, but I for one wont be a very happy customer if I lose my vonage.