Whoops. A jury ruled in favor of Verizon on 3 of 7 counts of patent infringement. From Ars Technica:

The jury hearing the case awarded Verizon $58 million in damages and said that the VoIP provider must pay royalties of 5.5 percent to Verizon if it wishes to continue using Verizon’s IP.

In a statement, Vonage notied that the jury only found that it had infringed on three of the seven patents in question, with two of them related to billing. The jury also ruled that Vonage did not willfully infringe Verizon’s patents, which likely reduced the damages award from the $197 million figure Verizon was seeking.

Vonage plans to appeal the verdict and is attempting to reassure customers that there will be no interruption in services, saying that should Verizon’s request for an injunction against Vonage be granted, it will be immediately appealed. A hearing on Verizon’s request for an injunction will take place on March 23.

We’ve got to be honest, this isn’t looking good for Vonage. You might want to begin planning your exit strategy if you’re a customer of theirs. Then again, appeals, appeals, appeals. —MEGHANN MARCO

Vonage found guilty of infringing three Verizon patents [Ars Technica]

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