Verizon wins permanent injunction against Vonage

Culver City (CA) - U.S. District Court Judge Claude Hilton has issued a permanent injunction to Vonage in its patent loss against Verizon. But Vonage customers can rest easy, for now, because the injunction doesn’t take effect immediately and Vonage is assuring customers that their service will not be affected.

In two weeks, Judge Hilton will hold a stay argument session where Vonage will argue for more time and not surprisingly Verizon will ask for an immediate enforcement of the injunction. Vonage can still appeal to the Federal Court of Appeals to further stays of the injunction.

According to Vonage’s CEO Mike Snyder, Vonage customers shouldn’t worry and he adds, "We are confident that Vonage customers will not experience service interruptions or other changes as a result of this litigation."

On March 8th, an eight person jury found that Vonage had infringed on three out of five Verizon patents. Verizon was awarded $58 million dollars and future royalties, which was less than one-third of what it was originally seeking.

Vonage stock has plunged more than 6% since the ruling and trading has been halted.