Author: Spiderman

I got an email alert this morning that Sprint/Nextel had settled their patent dispute with Vonage. Wow, that was fast! It now looks like Vonage may be around awhile longer, at least until Verizon gets them back in court.

Here’s the the press release that I got this morning:

Sprint Nextel and Vonage Settle Patent Dispute

Settlement Terms Include One-Time Payment to Sprint and Licensing Agreement that Provides Vonage with Use of Sprint Patents

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. and HOLMDEL, N.J., Oct 08, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and Vonage (NYSE: VG) today announced 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.

“We are pleased to resolve our dispute with Sprint and enter into a productive future relationship,” said Sharon O’Leary, Vonage chief legal officer.

“We view this settlement and licensing agreement as a validation of the strength and breadth of our patent portfolio,” said Harley Ball, Sprint Nextel’s vice president of intellectual property. “This is an affirmation of Sprint’s research and development and a testament to the rich history of innovation at Sprint Nextel.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks serving 54 million customers at the end of the second quarter 2007; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

About Vonage

Vonage (NYSE: VG) is a leading provider of digital phone services with 2.45 million subscriber lines. Our award-winning technology enables anyone to make and receive phone calls with a touch tone telephone almost anywhere a broadband Internet connection is available. We offer feature-rich and cost- effective communication services that offer users an experience similar to traditional telephone services. Our Residential Premium Unlimited and Small Business Unlimited calling plans offer consumers unlimited local and long distance calling, and popular features like call waiting, call forwarding and voicemail — for one low, flat monthly rate. For more information about Vonage’s products and services, please visit www.vonage.com.

Vg-a

SOURCE Vonage

http://www.vonage.com

With over 100 VoIP patents from Sprint to choose from, they should now be able to really kick butt in the VoIP world. While I’ve always had problems with Vonage just taking what they want and moving on, now that they are paying at least some of the people who own the technology, I hope they make it. At least for the sake of their 2.5 million users.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007 at 7:43 am and is filed under Vonage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.