Vonage Fights Sprint Claim Construction, Nortel Countersuit
Vonage’s court cases against Sprint Nextel and Nortel are heating up. Vonage is disputing Sprint’s use of terminology in a Kansas case and a proposed countersuit by Nortel in Texas. Also Monday, a Vonage executive said his company has paid Verizon $77.5 million in royalties for patent claims that Vonage is fighting.
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Vonage is fighting patent infringement claims by Sprint in the U.S. District Court for Kansas. In a filing Saturday, Vonage contested 16 of Sprint’s 19 claims. “Sprint’s proposed claim constructions are contrary to well-established claim construction principles and/or not supported by the evidence,” the document said. Sprint shot back: “Vonage’s efforts to avoid infringement should not be confused with proper claim construction … Vonage’s proposed claim constructions seek to unduly limit unambiguous claim language either by improperly importing limitations from the patents’ specifications or by creating limitations entirely out of whole cloth.” Separately, the judge Monday allowed Vonage to file a sealed exhibit to its trial brief response. A Vonage spokesman declined to comment.
In the Nortel litigation, Vonage is asking a Texas district court to consider possible delays if it allows Nortel to countersue Vonage on patent infringement allegations. Doing so would expand discovery obligations and force both firms to hire new experts and file claim constructions by Sept. 30, it told the U.S. District Court for Northern Texas in a filing. “Nortel’s suggestions that the current case schedule will not be adversely impacted are just plain wrong,” Vonage said. “Neither pushing the schedule back months, nor a mad dash, is fair, nor in the interests of justice.” Vonage also took the opportunity to bash Nortel’s claim. “There is absolutely no nexus (and Nortel meekly argues otherwise) between the Nortel Patents and the Vonage patents in suit,” it said. “Nortel cannot gloss over the vast difference between the Nortel Patents and Vonage Patents.”
Vonage also responded to a suggestion by Nortel that it was “forum shopping” by trying to get the U.S. District Court for Delaware to stop Nortel’s countersuit in the Texas court. “Vonage has no objection to litigating the Nortel patents in the Northern District of Texas,” it said. “But those claims should be litigated in a separate suit … A separate suit is required to prevent this case from doubling in size and perhaps length, and in order to avoid overwhelming a jury.” Nortel hasn’t filed a response.
Vonage is still waiting for a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on whether it has been infringing three Verizon patents, chief strategist Jeffrey Citron said at the Jeffries Communications Conference, webcast Monday from New York. But Vonage is ready no matter what the decision, he said. Vonage has installed workarounds for two of the patents and a third is being tested, he said. Vonage paid $66 million in Verizon royalties before this quarter and has paid $11.5 million during it, he said. Vonage won’t need to pay any more if a decision comes before the quarter ends Sept. 30, he said. Vonage would get all its money back if the district court is reversed, he added.