Klausner Technologies announces that it has granted a patent license to Vonage for its Vonage Voicemail services, and that it has settled its lawsuit against Vonage for infringement of US Patent No. 5,572,576. Vonage joins Time Warner subsidiary AOL, and others, who have taken out licenses under the same Klausner patents for their Internet Voicemail services.

Vonage announces that the company has filed a motion for a review by the original three-judge panel or the full panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sitting en banc of the September 26 decision in its patent litigation with Verizon. En banc signifies a decision by the full court of all the appeals judges in jurisdictions where there is more than one three- or four-judge panel.

On September 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit partially remanded a March 8 jury verdict in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. that the company infringed on three Verizon patents. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit remanded the infringement verdict on the 880 patent and affirmed the verdict on one patent claim in each of the 574 and 711 patents. Further, the Court of Appeals vacated the entire award of $58 million in damages and the 5.5 percent royalty. The Court of Appeals remanded the case to the U.S. District Court and directed that the court retry those aspects of the original case.

Sprint and Vonage announce that they have settled their ongoing patent dispute and entered into a licensing arrangement under Sprint's Voice over Packet ("VOP") patent portfolio. On September 25, 2007, a jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., found that Vonage had infringed six Sprint patents. The settlement agreement resolves all claims related to this dispute.

In addition, Sprint has agreed to license Vonage its VOP portfolio, which comprises more than 100 patents covering different methods, components and systems that efficiently connect telephone calls between a regular telephone network and a packet-switched network such as the Internet.

Vonage announced that it will seek to overturn today's U.S. District Court jury verdict in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Sprint Communications Company L.P. and continue focusing on providing reliable, quality digital phone service.

Federal court jurors in Kansas City, Kansas ruled in favor of Sprint, finding that Vonage had willfully infringed Sprint's patents in providing its VoIP telephony services, and awarding $69.5 million in damages, which the jury found to be five percent of Vonage's revenues over the infringing period. Vonage will ask the court to set aside the verdict, and if it is not granted, will vigorously pursue an appeal of the decision, including the underlying issue of liability and the willfulness aspect. Vonage believes any damages awarded are inappropriate. In addition, we will seek to develop technological workarounds that don't infringe on Sprint's patents.

Residents in Saskatchewan's two largest cities now have a better choice when it comes to their phone service. Vonage Canada announced local availability of its flat-rate Internet phone service in Regina and Saskatoon.

With Vonage, local residents can enjoy unlimited local and long distance calling for one low flat monthly fee, and still keep their existing phone number they've had for years. Unlike services touted by big phone companies and cable firms, all Vonage's flat rate phone plans include 20 standard and non-standard phone features, including call waiting, caller ID, voice mail to email and much more. Also unique to Vonage and Internet phone service is the ability to travel anywhere around the world with your local phone number. As well, with Vonage there are no extra fees, no extra charges and no costly and confusing bundled offers designed to tether you to one service provider.

Vonage launches a national grassroots communications campaign to educate and mobilize consumers about preserving the freedom to choose their phone service provider. The campaign, called "Free to Compete," will raise awareness of the importance of consumer choice.

Recently, Verizon has pursued litigation against Vonage in an effort to achieve in court what it cannot achieve in the marketplace.

"We want to highlight the choice that Vonage offers to the public: a choice to receive great phone service at a great price," said Jeffrey Citron, Vonage's chairman, chief strategist and interim chief executive officer. "We think this issue warrants national attention because when competition is stifled, consumers literally pay the price. Vonage is the target today, but what other innovative companies might be next?"

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. today issued Vonage a permanent stay of a previous court's injunction that would have barred it from signing up new customers. Vonage sought the stay following an April 6th decision by the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. enjoining the company from using certain VoIP technology to add new customers. The permanent stay enables Vonage to add new customers as we pursue our appeal. Existing customers remain unaffected by the company's ongoing patent litigation.

"We thank the appellate court for its thoughtful consideration of the merits of our case," said Jeffrey Citron, Vonage chairman and interim chief executive officer. "It's business as usual for us. We will continue providing reliable, quality digital phone service at the best value in the market and connecting thousands of phone calls every day. We remain focused on growing and strengthening our business and driving toward profitability."

Vonage announces that Michael Snyder stepped down from his position as Chief Executive Officer and resigned from the Company's Board of Directors effective April 11, 2007. The Company also announced that Jeffrey A. Citron, the Company's Chairman, has been appointed as the Company's interim Chief Executive Officer and is expected to serve on a short-term basis. In addition, the Company will immediately commence a search for Mr. Snyder's replacement.

Mr. Citron, Vonage Chairman and interim CEO said, "Mike has made valuable contributions to the growth of our business and we will miss him. We thank him and wish him well in his future endeavors."

Vonage states that it views the Court of Appeals' granting of a temporary stay on Friday allowing Vonage to continue to add customers as the first step toward resolving this matter in Vonage's favor. The stay will remain effective while the Appellate Court considers making the stay permanent.

Vonage will continue to provide digital telephone service to existing customers indefinitely by paying into escrow a quarterly royalty of 5.5% throughout the appeals process. Separately, the District Court required Vonage to post a bond of $66 million to secure Verizon's damages judgment.

Vonage is pleased that existing customers will not experience any interruption in service. The Company continues to believe it will succeed on appeal and continues to work on designing around the Verizon patents.

Vonage reaffirmed its confidence in prevailing on appeal and in continuing to meet the needs and expectations of its over 2.2 million subscriber lines despite a ruling March 23 in Verizon's favor and a disproportionately-negative reaction from the market.

"To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of Vonage's death have been greatly exaggerated," said Mike Snyder, Vonage's chief executive officer. "Friday's events represented one small step in what is sure to be a long legal battle.

"The fact is we've been preparing for this verdict and the possibility of an injunction for months," Snyder added. "For the market to react the way it did to the recent rulings shows an unfortunate lack of understanding of the judicial/appellate system, a lack of appreciation of Vonage's resourcefulness, or, perhaps, both. Anyone who's counting Vonage out is making a huge mistake."

Vonage and Motorola announce the release of a new wireless router that will make it easy for customers to use fax, telephone and Internet services at the same time. Motorola, known for its innovation and leadership in wireless and broadband communications, developed the VT2542 to meet the sophisticated needs of Vonage's customers. The VT2542 enables Voice-over-IP (VoIP) telephony and includes a 4-port wired and 802.11 b/g wireless access point for home networking connectivity. This new device is available at http://www.vonage.com for $59.99 after a $40 instant rebate ($99.00-$40.00=$59.99) (a $9.95 shipping and handling fee and a $29.99 activation fee is charged).

Haha, I just saw this video over at Andy Abramson's VoIP Watch blog which is always a great read for VoIP news. Thanks Andy.

A federal jury dealt a blow to Internet phone company Vonage, ruling that it infringed on patents held by Verizon. Vonage was ordered to pay $58 million in damages, plus royalties on future sales.

However, Vonage is delighted that the jury rejected Verizon's meritless claim that we infringed their two billing patents. Of the seven patents Verizon originally sued on, they prevailed on only three and we expect that verdict to be reversed on appeal. The jury's damage award represents a 70% reduction from Verizon's $197MM claim. The jury also unanimously rejected Verizon's claim that Vonage willfully infringed its patents.

In addition, we don't believe there is any basis to support Verizon's request for an injunction and we will have the opportunity to present our position to the trial court shortly. If the trial court does impose an injunction, we will seek an immediate stay from the Federal Court of Appeals. Vonage's customers should see no change to any aspect of their phone service.

It appears the Vonage Fan Van isn't running on four flat tires and will continue to terrorize people by throwing Vonage boxes at peoples heads.

The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory has been approved as the first external testing facility to pre-screen Internet telephony devices for compatibility with the services of Vonage Holdings Corp., a leading provider of broadband phone service.

At Vonage’s request, vendors will ship test-products to the UNH-IOL for analysis of their calling abilities as well as their interoperability with the multi-vendor Vonage network. Once tested at UNH-IOL, the equipment will be tested in the carrier’s own lab.

“The UNH-IOL is a well-respected test house with a strong reputation for objectivity and a high degree of technical expertise,” said Daniel Smires, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Vonage. “We’re leveraging that expertise to safeguard network interoperability and to deliver the best possible services to our customers.”

Vonage announces that more than 94 percent of its U.S. subscriber lines are now equipped with Enhanced 911 (E911) service -- a feature that automatically associates a physical address with the calling party's telephone number. The most recent upgrades bring the total number of lines fitted for E911 to more than 2 million.

Vonage's nomadic E911 solution gives customers the ability to reach a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) or 911 centers, through the dedicated 911 network infrastructure. With Vonage's nomadic E911 solution, a customer's call is automatically routed to the appropriate 911 center, with the caller's registered street address and telephone number appearing on the dispatchers screen -- regardless of where or what exchange they are calling from. Vonage will continue to turn up and test new PSAPs that are VoIP-ready every day.