In the wake of Vonage's patent-infringement loss to Verizon, VoIP techs are only just beginning to enforce intellectual-property rightsAnthony Cataldo, chief executive of Internet-calling provider VoIP, Inc. (VOII), closely watched the recent patent dispute between Verizon Communications (VZ) and Vonage Holdings (VG). Upon learning of the Mar. 8 decision by a jury that Vonage infringed on Verizon patents, Cataldo asked lawyers to start proceedings against companies that he says are using his company's technology. "You are going to see a lot of demand letters going out from us," he says.
Letters will go out from him—and a lot of others. On the heels of the Verizon verdict, expect a flurry of lawsuits by holders of patents on the technology that delivers phone calls the same way e-mail travels over the Internet, legal experts and industry executives say. "We were waiting to see how [the Verizon-Vonage case] was going to work out," says VoIP Chief Operating Officer Shawn Lewis. "[The verdict] has opened up the validity of protecting the patents."
There are plenty of VoIP (voice-over-Internet Protocol) patents to protect. The Patent & Trademark Office says there are 2,273 such patents. Many belong to telecom stalwarts like Verizon, AT&T (T), Motorola (MOT), Broadcom (BRCM), and Cisco Systems (CSCO). More than 150 patents, filed as early as 1999, were granted as recently as 2007.
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