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The Vonage & VoIP Inc. deal mess
Updated: Yesterday, I wrote about the Vonage-VoIP Inc., deal that seemed to be perfect for Vonage to get out from under Verizon’s thumb of death. A few publications and some Wall Street firms had pointed out that VoIP Inc., had some patents and cited a 8-K filing. Instead of checking the facts, I went along with what others were saying.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. A few vigilant readers wrote in and prompted us to further investigate the claims in the previous Vonage-VoIP Inc. report. A Vonage spokeswoman in an email said:
The VoIP Inc. 8-K filing has caused much confusion in the marketplace. Vonage’s deal with the company is a termination deal, and is completely unrelated to the development of workarounds. Basically, VoIP Inc. is no different from any of the carrier partners Vonage utilizes to get inbound calls from the PSTN to customers, or vice versa, IP calls to the PSTN. Again, this deal is completely unrelated to the pending litigation between Vonage and Verizon.
So for this less-than-mediocre reporting, I would like to offer my apologies to the readers and hopefully learn from this episode.
Vonage saved by VoIP Inc., for now
One of the most memorable lines in recent cinematic history is when Dr. Evil in Austin Powers utters, “Throw me a fricking bone.” That was the first thought that came to mind when reading about Vonage having found a work around their patent mess, thanks to VoIP Inc., a little VoIP company from Florida.
Verizon recently won its patent infringement battle against Vonage, and unless the Holmdel, NJ-based VOIP company got a stay from the federal court on April 6, it was facing a lights-out type situation. However, this deal with VoIP Inc. - will help Vonage stay open for business at the very least.
According to a 8-K filing by VoIP Inc., it was going to provide Vonage with certain network services, though the filing didn’t really reveal the financial terms. VoIP Inc., has patents and has a subsidiary that provides direct VoIP interconnection facilities with multiple carriers.
The deal could at least help Vonage address 2-out-of-3 Verizon patents that have landed it in hot water. Two of the patents deal with how VoIP calls connect to the PSTN network and the third one is about making VoIP calls via Wi-Fi phones.
Vonage is delaying filing its annual report pending the federal court’s decision (expected on April 6.) Funny how they were mocking the market for overreacting - Vonage actions since then show that over reaction was justified.
- 3/26/2007: VoIP patent mess to get messier.
- 3/26/2007: Vonage ready to rumble
- 3/23/2007: Vonage has 2 weeks to stop using Verizon patents, says Judge
- 3/16/2007: Vonage - rocky road, not road kill
- 3/8/2007: Vonage owes $58 million in patent case