That Didn't Take Long: Vonage Asks Court To Review Verizon Patents Under New Supreme Court Rules
from the quick-response dept
Well, that certainly didn't take very long at all. Just a day after the Supreme Court smacked down the Federal Circuit for not properly reviewing patents for "obviousness," Vonage has used the case as an opportunity to ask the courts for a retrial in their VoIP patent lawsuit with Verizon. Vonage claims that, under the new obviousness test, Verizon's patents may be toast. When combined with recent discoveries of prior art that certainly may be true. This certainly is opportunistic of Vonage, but it will be interesting to see how the courts react to this request. One thing that that's definitely become clear is that courts at all levels are actually going to have to look more closely at obviousness, rather than brushing it off as they have for years. In the meantime, expect many more cases along these lines in the near future. It may clog the system for a bit, but if the end result is fewer bogus patents, it's worth it.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What the hell is obviousness
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What happened to personal conscience
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Obvious.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Payback...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
He ruled that the patent itself wasn't his jurisdiction and left that to other courts. That probably was a good idea.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What the hell is obviousness
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: What the hell is obviousness
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Patent cry is Bull!!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Patent cry is Bull!!!!
I was actually considering switching from Vonage to them until they sued Vonage.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"exploiting chances offered by immediate circumstances without reference to a general plan or moral principle"
Nope, not opportunistic. While they are taking advantage of new court decision, they have that right and they are not doing so in an immoral way. It seems fairly clear that Verizon's patents are blatantly obvious, of the "you got chocolate in my peanut" variety and there seems to be prior art--making them doubly invalid.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
patents
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: patents
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
i dont think verizon sux, nor that vonage is a god
i do maintain a verizon landline...due only to 911 concerns..i know if i dial 911 and cant speak, the 911 center that gets that call is in radio communication with my local police, fire & ambulance..
another issue i have with verizon is there broadband availability...around here, there is none. in my situiation [location] ROI is not visible, even a breakeven point is not very probable.
nor would i ever accept them putting out "if you used voicewing, maybe we would invest".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Significant developments in 2007
- In January 2007, the Company received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office with respect to its "Private IP Communication Network Architecture" patent application, which covers the delivery of telecommunication type services across a network using digital technology.
- On March 21 2007, the European Patent Office published its decision to grant C2 a European patent that is equivalent to its U.S. Patent No. 6,243,373.
- In April, a trial scheduling conference was held with respect to the Company's patent infringement lawsuit against AT&T, Inc., Verizon Communications, Inc., Qwest Communications International, Inc., Bellsouth Corporation, Sprint Nextel Corporation, Global Crossing Limited, and Level 3 Communications, Inc. August 4, 2008 was set as the trial date.
Please see the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, filed with the SEC on March 16, 2007, and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2007, filed with the SEC on May 4, 2007, for further information.
About C2 Global Technologies Inc.
C2's business is focused on licensing its patents, which include two foundational patents in VoIP technology. C2 plans to realize value from its intellectual property by offering licenses to service providers, equipment companies and end-users that are deploying VoIP networks for phone-to-phone communications. For further information, please visit C2's website at www.c-2technologies.com.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]