Judge imposes Vonage injunction (no new customers) - AP

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Judge imposes Vonage injunction

By MATTHEW BARAKAT, AP Business Writer
11 minutes ago

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A judge issued an injunction Friday that effectively bars
Internet phone carrier Vonage from signing up new customers as punishment
for infringing on patents held by Verizon. Vonage planned an immediate appeal.

Vonage's lawyers said the compromise injunction posted by U.S District Judge
Hilton is almost as devastating as an injunction that would have affected
Vonage's 2.2 million existing customers.

"It's the difference of cutting off oxygen as opposed to the bullet in the head,"
Vonage lawyer Roger Warin said.

Verizon Communications Inc.'s lawyers had suggested the compromise injunction
as a way to avoid shutting down Vonage Holdings Corp.'s entire network.


Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070406/ap_on_hi_te/vonage_verizon_suit_2

[Roland99]

1. Yikes! I love my Vonage phone!

[Missy M]

2. Me too.....

I just signed up two weeks ago.

[gilpo]

4. Me too. I've been a customer for 4 years

[ellacott]

3. Oh man, I was going to signup n/t

[IChing]

5. There are tons of VOIP carriers cheaper and have good ratings.

Vonage is the only one that advertises on TV.
I have packet8 which is cheaper and has all the bells and whistles of Vonage.

[jobycom]

11. You must know someone, then. On the web page, Packet8 and Vonage are the same rate.

:shrug:

I just checked their web pages. Both $24.99. I did a lot of research when I signed up. No one was cheaper than Vonage with the same bells and whistles and a reliable national presence.

http://www.vonage.com/services.php
http://www.packet8.net/residential_services/

[IChing]

13. You are right they just went up

If you do not call Europe there are other carriers
my friend in Denver just got one for around $13, without europe, and is happy with it.

I need to call europe so it still is cheap and you can still use packet8 or any others.
The national presence doesn't mean very much since it is internet, it is not like they have lines to run.

I have carried my modem to europe and to colorado and it worked fine.
My kids use skype which is free, to call me.

[jobycom]

14. You're probably right about the national presence. I just meant that

the company was larger and seemingly more solid, so you don't lose any investment in equipment or startup fees. If this ruling against Vonage stands, though, the national presence may turn out to mean nothing. :(

[IChing]

15. I got my equipment for free and the start up fees were zero

they even paid the first month when I started with them.

[jobycom]

19. I don't even remember, it was several years back. nt

[chunkylover55]

6. That sucks. I hate Verizon. They're a huge monopoly

and they use their deep pockets and huge corporate power to squeeze out any competitor that might pose the slightest threat. I use to work for a mid-sized nationwide CLEC that was basically crushed by Verizon's monopoly power. The FCC wasn't too interested interested in helping us out either, as they're in the pockets of the incumbent monopolies.

Anyway, I love my Vonage phone and I'm going to be pissed if they go under cause of this.

[originalpckelly]

7. And this is why there should be no patents.

Patents assist big companies and not the people. On a larger scale, they keep technological innovation from progressing, because they allow someone to rest on their laurels once they've invented something. There ought to be a free exchange of ideas and money, there should be a free economy, a truly free market.

The conservatives bitch and moan about government intervention, except when it assists the pockets of the big companies in America.

Imagine just being able to get the best product for the price. It would be wonderful. The competition would be intense, but rewarding.

Patents are a form of regulation, and even though they were talked about by the founders, I think we seriously need to reconsider them.

The fact that there are companies that are patent trolls and don't do anything but put frivolous lawsuits in our legal system to make money, it's causing a type of a chilling effect on anyone trying to innovate.

[AngryAmish]

8. My vonage has been acting weird all day

The new message light won't turn off and the phone has called itself twice.
It is like a horror movie.

[originalpckelly]

9. No shit...

that's actually pretty damned interesting.

[dogday]

12. I too am getting a new message light up on my phone

and I checked it by phone and by going to their site... No new messages, just blinking... We have had vonage for several years now...

[ContraBass Black]

10. If Vonage folds, I'll be out for the cost of my equipment.

[wicket]

16. Will we lose our phone number too???

UGH.

[ToeBot]

18. Vonage wont fold exactly, they'll be taken over, by someone like... Verizon n/t

[leeroysphitz]

17. Anything that empowers consumers in ANY way must be squashed.

And squashed HARD.

Big business doesn't make money by actually allowing competition and innovation.

[Robbien]

20. The Judge is a rabid right conservative judge

Dateline -- ALEXANDRIA, Virginia -- Ever heard of Judge Claude Hilton?

In case you are not familiar with the name, allow The Doc to elucidate. Earlier this week, Judge Hilton rebuffed Julie Hiatt Steele's request that the government reimburse her for attorneys' fees -- thousands upon thousands of dollars she incurred during allegedly Independent Kenneth Starr's attempt to railroad her for throwing a monkey wrench in his persecution of President Clinton. Starr's office charged Steele with lying -- and the press largely played into Starr's hand in their reportage, practically refusing to mention the fact that Steele's attorney Nancy Luque utterly destroyed the credibility of Starr's case, Starr's witnesses, and Starr's staff.

I digress... but only slightly.

In his ruling, Judge Hilton claimed -- catch this -- that "the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable trier of fact to find the defendant guilty."

"Reasonable trier of fact?" The jury was HUNG. Yes, it was hung 9-3 in favor of conviction -- but you may not know that the foreman of the jury was reportedly a "lurker" on the FreeRepublic web site. That's right -- the Clinton-hating site filled with death threats against the First Family and all form of lies about Steele. The Doc won't burder you with the preponderance of ties FreeRepublic has to ultra-right organizations and causes -- but will remind you that such conservative stalwarts as Lucianne Goldberg and Matt Drudge have severed relations with the site in recent months.

But I digress...

"Reasonable?" What would be reasonable, Judge Hilton, is an investigation of the jury foreman and his conduct.

However, we're not surprised at all at the "reasonable" Hilton upon learning the following tidbit. A tip of the Gonzo hat to APJ reader Norma, who passed along this "fun fact" about Judge Claude Hilton: a couple years back, this judicial genius told the court, in the case of Kahn v. Xerox (96-622-A U.S. Dist. Court Va.), that it is ok to allow the disabled to suffer because "everyone feels pain."

http://www.americanpolitics.com/081499DISpatch.html

No surprise he ruled in favor of big corporate profits here and against the common good.

[IChing]

21. thanks for the story behind the story n/t