Vonage Found to be Infringing on 6 Sprint Patents

Vonage just lost a patent infringement case brought by Sprint/Nextel. The lawsuit claimed that Vonage had knowingly used technology that was patented by Sprint - Nextel and the court agreed finding Vonage liable for approximately $69.5 million (5% of Vonage's revenues during the time period). Vonage plans to appeal the ruling but has already started on workarounds on the technology in question.

This marks the second major loss in court by Vonage this year , loosing a similar patent infringement case to Verizon (they are still appealing that multi million dollar verdict against them). The news just can't be good for them and their long term survival.

Their stock price fell by 33% today on the news of this loss (started at $1.99 per share and ended at $1.20 per share). If Vonage is forced to pay either of these amounts, the company will no doubt have to file for bankruptcy protection.