stories about: "vonage"
Vonage Loses Yet Another Patent Case
from the not-looking-good dept
Vonage has already had enough trouble actually making their business profitable without having to worry about a barrage of patent lawsuits over highly questionable patents. But thanks to a patent system that approves a tremendous number of overly broad patents on obvious ideas, that's what you get. Already appealing a similar case from Verizon, a jury has found Vonage guilty of violating a bunch of Sprint patents. Juries will often find in favor of the patent holder, so this isn't much of a surprise. Vonage will most certainly appeal and the case is far from over. However, given how much effort the company needs to put into fighting these patents, the company may not be able to survive. The really sad thing is that the technology behind VoIP has almost nothing to do with Vonage's success. There were a ton of companies that had tried and failed to make popular VoIP plays before (and after) Vonage. What Vonage did was actually innovate: taking the basic idea that everyone knew about, and turning it into an offering that people wanted to buy. That's where Verizon, Sprint and other incumbents failed. For them to come back afterwards, and claim patent infringement is simply sour grapes. They were unable (and unwilling) to create the services that people wanted -- and now they want to shut down the company that actually did innovate -- and they're likely to succeed. That's not how the patent system is supposed to work.Filed Under: patent thicket, patents, voip
Companies: sprint, vonage
Sprint Claims Vonage Wouldn't Exist Without Sprint's Patents
from the stop-laughing dept
Already facing possible shutdown and huge fines from Verizon over some VoIP patents, Vonage is apparently facing a similar threat from Sprint as well. The case was filed nearly two years ago, but it finally is underway, with Sprint making the ridiculous claim that without Sprint's patents, Vonage wouldn't exist. We've already gone through this with Verizon, but there's a ton of prior art on VoIP offerings -- and almost all of these patents seem overly broad and quite speculative. Lots of different folks all figured out how VoIP could work at about the same time (suggesting that the concept was the natural progression of the technology, which isn't something that's supposed to receive patent protection). Vonage's real innovation was in figuring out how to package and market the service -- something that neither Sprint nor Verizon did. Both companies are now simply trying to shut down a rival who out-innovated them in the market. That's not what the patent system is designed to do, and it's a blatant abuse of the patent system by both telcos to claim that Vonage somehow "stole" anything from them.Filed Under: patent thicket, patents, voip
Companies: sprint, verizon, vonage
Ghost Of SunRocket Sues Vonage For Spamming The Customers It Cut Off
from the need-some-money-now dept
VoIP provider SunRocket's troubles and subsequent collapse are well known, leading many to wonder if it's a warning sign for Vonage's prospects. Of course, Vonage (unwisely) decided to dance on SunRocket's grave, celebrating that it had caused SunRocket to go out of business. Perhaps they should have waited until SunRocket was really, totally dead. The whole taking credit for SunRocket's demise might come back to bite them as the ghost of SunRocket is now suing Vonage for emailing SunRocket's customer list. Apparently, the two companies had discussed, under a confidentiality agreement, Vonage buying SunRocket's customers or customer list, but talks never went very far. Soon afterwards Vonage emailed SunRocket's customers asking with an offer to move over to Vonage's service. The liquidation firm handling the SunRocket shutdown (incidentally, it's Marty, the dot com cleanup guy's firm) potentially saw this as an easy lawsuit to try to recover some cash for SunRocket, and sued Vonage for violating the confidentiality agreement. Vonage insists that it acquired the list legally, outside of the discussions with SunRocket. Neither party comes out of this looking very good, but that seems to be pretty typical in the independent VoIP space lately.With Little Else To Celebrate, Vonage Dances On Sunrocket's Grave
from the comeuppance dept
Vonage has been having a rough go of it lately, so apparently the company has to take whatever small victories it can. A spokesman for the company recently bragged that it was responsible for the demise of Sunrocket, the #2 independent VoIP operator. In a sense, the company is correct in that the cutthroat price competition in this space is what killed Sunrocket. But Vonage is struggling itself for the same reasons. From a business model perspective, there wasn't much of a difference between Vonage and Sunrocket, except that Vonage seemed to spend way more on advertising. By going out of its way to highlight Sunrocket's woes, the company is pretty much reminding everyone that it's in the exact same boat.Is The Collapse Of SunRocket Another Nail In Vonage's Coffin?
from the to-the-ground dept
The slow death of SunRocket (which has now been confirmed), has prompted a lot of discussion about how to move to a new service if you're a SunRocket customer. Obviously, any SunRocket customer is going to have a few inconvenient days as they try to make the switch to another VoIP operator, if they do so at all. Also, just as Vonage's woes made it harder for SunRocket to raise funds, SunRocket's collapse could end up hurting Vonage. If Vonage customers start to freak out that they could lose their phone service as well (a prospect made more likely by the ongoing litigation against the company), then they may preemptively flee, looking for a more stable service. The phenomenon, whereby doubts about some sellers end up hurting more reputable services, is what economists would call a market for lemons, and this would seem to be a classic example. Meanwhile, Vonage investors have fled the scene long ago, as Vonage shares languish at all-time lows.
