rjl2621's Thoughts

Some of you may know the current situation with Vonage, the leading provider of VoIP phone service, and the telecomunications conglomerate, Verizon. Others of you may not know Vonage other than by their "People do stupid things" advertisements.

In summary, Verizon is suing Vonage for copyright infringement over Vonage's implementation of the VoIP technology. They claim they had the patents for the technology that Vonage uses. For those of you who don't know, VoIP means "Voice over Internet Protocol" and in general terms means that you can have a voice conversation using a broadband internet connection (such as cable or DSL) with others on normal phone providers and phone lines.

Sprint/Nextel also has a lawsuit pending against Vonage for similar allegations, but their lawsuit was filed after Verizon thus making them wait in line, so-to-speak.

My problem with the Verizon lawsuit is that is alleges that Verizon owned a patent to technology which has been in existance and in use by corporate phone systems for many years - even before broadband started becoming popular in the general public. Additionally, Verizon didn't own any of the phone system companies using VoIP technology -- yet to my knowledge, they haven't filed any lawsuits against those companies. Why? Because they aren't competition. But wait, Verizon may not stop at Vonage!

Taking the logic of Verizon and to make a point, I believe Sprint/Nextel should simply file a lawsuit against Verizon for infringing on the "Push to Talk" cellular feature that Nextel pioneered. While I don't know for sure that Nextel had that technology patented, I do know that Verizon Wireless has blatently ripped that off and has recently begun marketing it as something new. Sorry Verizon, you stole someone else's idea. Nice try.

As a Vonage customer, I feel the need to stand behind a service which has been nothing but reliable for me. I also do not like the idea of being forced to switch to a more expensive option from Verizon or TimeWarner simply due to Verizon's GREED. This lawsuit appears to have been nothing more than a cheap, below the belt shot to Vonage for stealing a lot of market share from Verizon. But since Verizon has the deeper pockets and a virtual monopoly, go figure the courts side with them. Gotta love our justice system.

Now Vonage is fighting back with a new marketing campaign, which, is very similar to the current campaign in Ohio for cable choices for consumers. I do admire what both are doing -- but I don't know how successful it will really be. Only time will tell, but I do know one thing -- I enjoy my right to choose and to get the best price and quality, not just "whatever conglomerate is in the area".