The VoIP Weblog

Here is another twist to the Verizon- Vonage patent battle. Daniel Berninger , a telecom expert has stated that two patents talked about in the lawsuit against Vonage are invalid and in case they are allowed to stand it could be a threat for all competing VoIP services. He claimed that these two patents were described in VoIP Forum, a standards group before Verizon went ahead and filed for these patents.

Daniel Berninger stated in an interview:

The VOIP Forum described the name translation call-processing step in an open standard developed in 1996, and Verizon applied for the two patents in March 1997 and February 2000. Members of the VOIP Forum talked extensively about name translation during call set-up during discussions about the voice portion of the H.323 standard during 1996, and in the parallel development of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) at the Internet Engineering Task Force. Several major tech vendors participated in the standards-setting process, and two papers on H.323 published in January 1997, one by coworkers at his former employer VocalTec Communications Ltd., describe the technologies later patented by Verizon.

Verizon used name translation for connecting VoIP calls to traditional phones but if there is no name translation then VoIP calls cannot be completed and every other Verizon competitor stands to be sued. Verizon has not given any comments on this issue up till now.

• Vonage seeks public support for fighting Verizon
• The lighter side of Verizon-Vonage patent battle
• Vonage signs deal with VoIP Inc to counter injunction order
• Vonage working on workarounds for Verizon patents infringed
• Vonage refrained from offering core VoIP services, where is the company headed for?
• Vonage loses out in battle with Verizon
• Vonage gets relief on the issue of signing up new customers
• Smaller players worried with Verizon - Vonage patent infringement judgment
• Vonage deal with VoIP Inc is not for a work around