Vonage Settles Patent Suit with Sprint

Wait a second, you Vonage users.  Although the legal news of late has not been kind to Vonage, they may be able to avoid financial ruin yet.  Today they announced a settlement with Sprint Nextel over their patent lawsuit, though certainly not without cost.

Monday's settlement resolves all claims in the dispute, the companies said.

Sprint agreed to license Vonage its portfolio of more than 100 patents on connecting calls between a regular telephone network and a packet-switched network such as the Internet.

The $80 million Vonage agreed to pay consists of $35 million for past use of the patents, $40 million for a fully paid future license, and $5 million in prepayment for services.

Vonage's stock rose in Monday trading, but there is still the issue of Vonage's case with Verizon, so hold onto your phones, er, hats!