It was business as usual today for Vonage as a US federal appeals court granted it a permanent stay on an injunction resulting from its legal battle with Verizon . The ruling means Vonage can continue to sign up new customers pending its appeal on the patent infringement ruling that has threatened its VoIP service .
Vonage is appealing a jury's decision in March that Vonage had infringed patents belonging to Verizon. Vonage was ordered to pay $58 million (£29 million) in damages to Verizon plus additional royalties.
Following the original decision, the court imposed an injunction on Vonage signing up new customers ahead of its appeal, as Verizon claimed it would mean continuing patent infringements.
Earlier this month Vonage successfully applied for a temporary stay on the injunction. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has now extended the stay, pending Vonage's appeal. Vonage's appeal has now been fast-tracked by the federal appeals court for June 25.
"It's business as usual for us," said Vonage chairman and interim chief executive officer Jeffrey Citron. He claimed that Vonage was confident it could overturn the patent ruling: "We continue to believe we have not infringed on any of Verizon's technology and remain optimistic that we will ultimately prevail in this litigation."
