Lawyers Debate Verizon/Vonage Lawsuit

Telecom attorneys are mixed as to who has the upper hand in the patent infringement case between Verizon and Vonage.

Earlier this week, both parties were encouraged after a federal appeals court granted Vonage a full stay of injunction that allowed the defendant to continue to sign up new customers through the appeal. That same court also established a relatively speedy schedule for the appeal process which plaintiff Verizon interpreted as a boon to its case. Even though both sides are claiming a small victory from this week's events, neither one should claim the upper hand as yet.

"Anything in patent that moves on a two month schedule is definitely out of the ordinary," says Raymond Quianzon, an attorney at Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, PLC, in Arlington, Va. "Patent proceedings tend to take awhile. I don't know that it necessarily favors one side or the other though."

"You just don't know at this point," says James Blaszak, a partner at Levine, Blaszak, Block & Boothby LLC in Washington, D.C. "I really don't think that you can jump to a conclusion that prospects are good for Vonage or for Verizon" based on this week's order.

Some disagree. Tom Lynch, another Washington-based telecom attorney, believes the expedited appeal schedule favors Verizon.

"It forces Vonage to take two tracks at the same time," Lynch says. "Develop a workaround and defend itself. This does give Verizon the upper hand."

Quianzon, meanwhile, says the expedited schedule favors Vonage ? financially though, not legally.

"If anything, it may slightly benefit?Vonage which is claiming that they're going to be bleeding money for lawyers," Quianzon says. "If you can get the lawyers' bills compressed into a two month period, you're in a much better situation than dragging it on."

Quianzon notes that Vonage's appeal will be heard in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, which has a reputation for quickening the pace of trials ? earning it the nickname "Rocket Docket."

"If you can get something on the Rocket Docket, it moves very, very quickly," Quianzon says. "All it means is that your lawyers have to be really well prepared."

Since Vonage was initially found by a lower court to have infringed on three Verizon patents and enjoined from using the technology, the advantage stays with Verizon irrespective of this week's order, says Jim Smith, an attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, also in Washington. "Verizon has the jury decision in its pocket so Vonage has the burden of showing that that was wrongly decided at the lower court level," Smith says. "It's still an uphill battle for Vonage.

"On the other hand, I'm not sure you can read anything into the expedited schedule," Smith says. "You can really read that either way. I don't think either party can really define anything at all from the expedited schedule."