Vonage offered free phone calls over the Internet at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
(Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press/File 2007)
Vonage settles patent suit
Vonage offered free phone calls over the Internet at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
(Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press/File 2007)
NEW YORK - Internet phone company Vonage Holdings Corp. took a step back from the brink yesterday, saying it has settled for $80 million a patent-infringement suit filed by Sprint Nextel Corp.
On Sept. 25, a jury in the US District Court in Kansas City, Kan., found that Vonage infringed on six Sprint patents, and ordered Vonage to pay $69.5 million in damages.
Yesterday's settlement resolves all claims in the dispute, the companies said.
Sprint agreed to license Vonage to use its portfolio of more than 100 patents on connecting calls between a regular telephone network and a packet-switched network such as the Internet.
The $80 million Vonage agreed to pay consists of $35 million for past use of the patents, $40 million for a fully paid future license, and $5 million in prepayment for services.
Shares of Vonage rocketed $1.42, or 123.4 percent, to $2.57. Sprint Nextel shares fell 51 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $18.50.
"We are pleased to resolve our dispute with Sprint and enter into a productive future relationship," said Sharon O'Leary, chief legal officer of Holmdel, N.J.-based Vonage.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
