U.S. Dist. Court Judge Claude Hilton signed an injunction against Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) this morning, preventing the VOIP provider from using Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)'s patented technology. Vonage was not granted the 120 day stay that it was seeking while its patent-infringement case goes to appeal. (See Vonage, Verizon Fight to Go Into Late Rounds.)
The judge allowed a proposal by Verizon that would allow Vonage to continue using its patented technology but would prevent Vonage from signing up new customers. The compromise is a small victory for Vonage which will be able to continue serving its 2.2 million existing customers.
Vonage's stock fell $0.25 (6.91%) to $3.37 in trading yesterday in anticipation of the injunction. Investors fear that any unfavorable outcome would keep the VOIP service provider from adding new customers -- and slow its revenues to a crawl. The rapid rate at which Vonage signs up new customers has been one of the few bright spots for the company, only outstripped by its massive financial losses and free-wheeling spending on consumer marketing.
Vonage's financial story is still one for the ages. The company's shares have lost 80 percent of their value since Vonage's IPO of $17 per share. In the past week, research analysts at Citigroup , the bank that underwrote the IPO, downgraded Vonage to sell -- a rare occurrence for an underwriting company. (See Citigroup Analyst Sticks 'Sell' on Vonage.)
The New York Stock Exchange is closed today for Good Friday.
Pete Baldwin, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:10:45 PM
re: Vonage Dissed at Injunction Junction Stop presses -- an appeals court has granted Vonage a temporary stay, meaning Vonage can continue signing up new customers for a time.
Pete Baldwin, User Rank: Light Beer 12/5/2012 | 3:10:45 PM
re: Vonage Dissed at Injunction Junction Of the first 4 respondants to our brand new poll about Vonage, not one believes Vonage is going to eventually win its appeal, and three think Vonage will be out of business in a year.
Light Reading founder Steve Saunders talks with VMware's Shekar Ayyar, who explains why cloud architectures are becoming more distributed, what that means for workloads, and why telcos can still be significant cloud services players.
A CSP's digital transformation involves so much more than technology. Crucial – and often most challenging – is the cultural transformation that goes along with it. As Sigma's Chief Technology Officer, Catherine Michel has extensive experience with technology as she leads the company's entire product portfolio and strategy. But she's also no stranger to merging technology and culture, having taken a company — Tribold — from inception to acquisition (by Sigma in 2013), and she continues to advise service providers on how to drive their own transformations. This impressive female leader and vocal advocate for other women in the industry will join Women in Comms for a live radio show to discuss all things digital transformation, including the cultural transformation that goes along with it.
To save this item to your list of favorite Light Reading content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.