Telco, Verizon loses suit against Cable, Cox

Verizon Communications lost a battle in court to Cox Communications earlier this week. The two mega providers have been playing a mega tug of war over technology designed to speed up voice and data service to users. Verizon claims that Cox took stole their lunch money or cash cow or call it what you want, by infringing on a patent they had first. It sounds to me like the two mega providers are having a childlike fight over who had the ball first.

Verizon claims that they own patents which give them the rights to information sent over packets which translates into ip telephony service and ultimately telephone, internet, and television service. The company originally filed suit against Cox in January of this year requesting that Cox be blocked from using the patents in the future. What does all of this mean to the end user; it could potentially be keeping competition alive and fostering a breeding ground for better cheaper service. I know, always the optimist.

Previously Verizon didn’t only pick a fight with Cox, they also went after VoIP provider, Vonage claiming that Vonage had infringed on the very same patents they accused Cox of infringing on. Vonage took the blow and settled out of court and ended up paying the Telco $117.5 million as part of their settlement, ironically which could have been the pre-cursor to the Cox claim. Time Warner and Comcast can breathe a sigh of relief for a while and continue to offer VoIP services without worrying about big bad Verizon. Our guess is that the recent ruling will keep Verizon quiet until they can at the very least bolster a different angle on the same claim.

A Virginia district court jury found that Cox had provided “clear and convincing evidence” that Verizon’s claims on two patents were unfounded. Those patents were for “Enhanced Internet domain name server” to translate information from a public, packet-based network; and “Method, server and telecommunications system for name translation on a conditional basis and/or to a telephone number,” an extension of the earlier patent.

We will continue to keep you informed on the cable, ip-telephony, internet service, television, FiOS, and VoIP tug of war. My vote is for whoever can provide the best service at the most competitive price.