Verizon’s VoIP patents have become a lucrative source of income for the second-largest phone company in the U.S. After squeezing out $120 million from Vonage, the company has been filing patent infringement lawsuits against all comers — from tiny startups to cable giants like Cox. Today Verizon went after Charter Communications.
On the flip side, VoIP Inc., an Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based VoIP provider with a questionable business outlook, is almost out of gas. They owe Verizon about $8 million related to the settlement the two companies agreed to last year. As Fierce VoIP points out.
Unless Verizon believes in fairies, this money is as good as gone because the stock price is now at $0.008, creditors are already in the courts for big debts and VoIP Inc. is admitting it expects to have to write off its only real asset, its network business.
Convicted felon Steve Ivester was involved with VoIP Inc. during its early days when it was making a transition from tea company to Vonage competitor. Over the past 12 months, VoIP Inc.’s stock has tanked — from over $8 a share to less than a penny.
2 comments so far
2:53 PM PT
[...] Darth Verizon’s crack legal team has been a busy bunch. They found a money pot in their VoIP patents and they are milking it for all that it is worth. Until there is some kind of a technology shift or a more sensible court ruling, VoIP providers may have to start paying protection money to the big V. Verizon’s VoIP patents have become a lucrative source of income for the second-largest phone company in the U.S. After squeezing out $120 million from Vonage, the company has been filing patent infringement lawsuits against all comers — from tiny startups to cable giants like Cox. Today Verizon went after Charter Communications. (from GigaOm) [...]
12:00 AM PT
[...] Verizon’s VoIP patent lawsuits only accelerate these trends. The telcos enjoy very high margins on the $7-to-$10 per subscriber that comes via the likes of Vonage, Cox and Charter; legal successes hasten the pace of work to shut off this revenue. The cable companies can pursue settlement-free peering of voice traffic between each other. People with SIP-based broadband phones get voice functionality without touching the telephone network. The telcos have still not recovered lost revenue from the last group of competitors (i.e CLEC’s) defeated in the courtroom. [...]
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