Verizon Sues Vonage Over Patents

Another lawsuit has been filed in the increasingly litigious VOIP industry. Vonage acknowledged Monday that it had been served with a suit by Verizon and Verizon Laboratories alleging infringement of seven patents related to VOIP technologies. The company said that before the suit, it had not been informed by Verizon that it was infringing upon the technologies, and had hired outside counsel to investigate Verizon's claims.

"As a leading developer of VoIP technology, Vonage respects the valid intellectual property rights of others," Vonage said in a statement. "Vonage believes that its services have been developed with its own proprietary technology and technology licensed from third parties and intends to vigorously defend the lawsuit." Verizon had no further comment as of press time.