Tech Shout!

Telecom giant Verizon is suing Vonage, accusing them of indulging in patent infringement.

Vonage Holdings Corp and its subsidiary Vonage America were served with the lawsuit, which relates to seven patents, by Verizon Services Corp and Verizon Laboratories.

“As a leading developer of VoIP technology, Vonage respects the valid intellectual property rights of others,” Vonage said in a statement. “Vonage believes that its services have been developed with its own proprietary technology and technology licensed from third parties and intends to vigorously defend the lawsuit.”

“Vonage does not currently own any issued U.S. patents,” Verizon said in the lawsuit. “Instead, Vonage relies on the intellectual property developed by Verizon in delivering its infringing product and services.”

The VoIP group “intends to vigorously defend the lawsuit”, it said, adding that this is the first time Verizon has contacted the operator regarding the patent allegations.

Vonage operates in the US, Canada and the UK and has around 1.6m users. Last month Vonage floated in the US but the IPO has failed to excite investors.