12.15.07
Vonage Hit by Patent Lawsuit (Yes, Again)
That truly sounded like old news, but it’s not. This case of deja vu is brand new and it’s very familiar.
Nortel Networks Corp., the Canadian maker of telecom equipment, filed a lawsuit on Friday against Vonage — claiming that it violated nine patents related to Internet phone services and related features such as 911 and 411 calling and click to call.
Vonage’s long-going soap opera with patents has earned it a lot of unwanted attention. There are some satirical videos, including this one.
Another previous video for context can be found here (from CBS). █
Previous stories that touched on Vonage (reverse chronological):
- Patent Roundup: Acacia's Trolling Suffers Prior Art Barriers
- The Latest Patent News: USPTO Reform Attacked, Sun Attacks, Vonage Settles
- Patenting Culture -- Wilder Than Software Patents?
- An Age of “Intellectual Monopolies” Thrives in a Broken System
- Patent (In)Sanity - Recent Links
- Patent Madness Watch: When USPTO Becomes Incompatible with Consumers' Needs
- Patent Systems Seem to be Going Behind Again, Not Forward
- Patent Trolls Watch: Harassment Continues, Wheels Reinvented
- Linux 'Violates' Microsoft's Sudo Patent (Updated)
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.