06 April 2007

A U.S. district court judge on Friday
barred VOIP provider Vonage Holdings Corp. from signing up new
customers after the company lost a patent infringement lawsuit to
Verizon Communications Inc.

Judge Claude Hilton of the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied Vonage's
request to stay an injunction pending its appeal of a patent
infringement ruling. On March 8, a federal jury found that Vonage
infringed three Verizon patents and must pay US$58 million in damages
plus royalties.

Verizon sued Vonage last June, alleging the
VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) provider had violated seven of its
patents involving packet-based calling technology.