Vonage Crosses Hurdle and Settles Dispute with Sprint
Source: www.voip-news.com
Today Sprint Nextel and Vonage announced that they have settled their patent dispute and are ready to move onward and upward. Not only have they settled their dispute, but they will start working together! The companies entered into a licensing arrangement under Sprint’s Voice over Packet (”VOP”) patent portfolio. Additionally, Sprint will license Vonage their VOP portfolio, which consists of over ”100 patents covering different methods, components and systems that efficiently connect telephone calls between a regular telephone network and a packet-switched network such as the Internet.”
“We are pleased to resolve our dispute with Sprint and enter into a productive future relationship,” said Sharon O’Leary, Vonage chief legal officer.
“We view this settlement and licensing agreement as a validation of the strength and breadth of our patent portfolio,” said Harley Ball, Sprint Nextel’s vice president of intellectual property. “This is an affirmation of Sprint’s research and development and a testament to the rich history of innovation at Sprint Nextel.”
The companies’ new agreement is valued at $80 million, which includes a one-time payment of $35 million for the past use of license, $40 million for a fully paid future license, and $5 million in prepayment for services. Given Vonage’s difficult year of legal ups and downs, it will be nice for them to at least put this chapter behind them and move on to the business of … well, business.
