Court Upholds Infringement Rulings Against Vonage for Two of Three Verizon VoIP Patents

In Verizon Services Corp. v. Vonage Holdings Corp., Nos. 07-1240, -1251, -1274 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 26, 2007), the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court's claim construction, jury instructions, and injunction for two of three Verizon Services Corporation, Verizon Laboratories Inc., or Verizon Communications, Inc. (collectively "Verizon") patents asserted against Vonage Holdings Corporation and Vonage America, Inc. (collectively "Vonage") with respect to Voice over IP ("VoIP") technology. For the third patent, the Federal Circuit revised the district court's claim construction, remanded for a new trial, suggested further court consideration of jury instructions relating to obviousness in light of KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727 (2007), and vacated the lower court's injunction. The Federal Circuit also vacated an award of $58,000,000 in damages and a 5.5% royalty rate because the jury verdict did not apportion damages among the three patents.