Vonage Holdings Corp

Vonage Holdings Corp. said hello to the public markets Wednesday, but all the Internet phone company got back was static from investors. Shares tumbled 13% on their first day of trading -- making Vonage's Wall Street debut the weakest so far this year and the worst for any initial public offering of more than $500 million since 2000.

Vonage Holdings Corp. must pay $58 million plus monthly royalties to Verizon Communications Inc. for infringing three patents on Internet telephone service, a federal jury ruled Thursday. Following the verdict in an Alexandria, Va., federal court, Verizon asked for an order banning Vonage's use of the technology. An injunction could cripple Vonage by allowing it to handle only calls between the company's customers, Verizon lawyer Peter McCabe said. A hearing was set for March 23.

Vonage Holdings Corp., an unprofitable Internet phone company, won a court ruling that bars states from regulating its service, thwarting a challenge from telecommunications regulators in Minnesota. Vonage's service should be regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, an appeals court in St. Louis said. The move by the three-judge panel backs a 2004 order from the FCC. This is at least the third court victory for Holmdel, N.J.

A federal judge ordered a permanent injunction Friday against Internet phone carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. for use of rival Verizon Communications Inc.'s patents. But the injunction, which potentially could cause major disruptions to the service provided by Vonage to its 2 million customers, will not take effect for at least two weeks. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton said he would wait two weeks to officially enter the injunction while he considered Vonage's request for an extended stay.

A federal appeals court Friday gave Vonage Holdings Corp. a reprieve from a ruling issued hours earlier that a company lawyer said was "cutting off oxygen" to the Internet telephone provider. Early in the day, U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton in Alexandria, Va., issued a partial stay in his injunction against Vonage for violating three patents held by Verizon Communications Inc. Hilton allowed Vonage to continue serving its 2.

Vonage Holdings Corp.'s shares hit their lowest level since the Internet phone company went public in May, as investors worried that a patent suit would stunt the company's customer growth. The stock fell as low as $2.88 a share during trading Monday before rebounding to close at $3.03, down 34 cents. Vonage went public at $17 a share. On Friday, with stock markets closed, a federal judge banned Vonage from using three Verizon Communications Inc.

Vonage Holdings Corp., its survival threatened by a court loss in a patent case, said Thursday that its chief executive had quit and that it would cut jobs and costs by $140 million this year to help put the Internet phone company on a path toward profitability. Ahead of its full first-quarter report in May, the pioneering but money-losing company also said it took in $195 million in revenue and netted 166,000 new subscribers during the first three months this year to reach 2.4 million.

Executives at Vonage Holdings Corp. are so upbeat in public talks these days it's hard to believe the Internet phone company faces a court order that may cut off its lifeblood: new customers. Vonage executives have said they expect to announce next month new technology aimed at getting around Verizon Communications Inc.'s patents, which a judge ruled that Vonage was infringing on. But in court and regulatory filings this week, Vonage said it was months away from a work-around.

A federal appeals court Tuesday allowed Vonage Holdings Corp. to continue to sign up new customers while it tried to overturn a lower court decision that it violated patents held by Verizon Communications Inc. The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington issued a full stay of a District Court order that prevented Vonage from using the patented technologies to attract new customers but allowed it to keep serving its 2.4 million subscribers.

Internet telephone company Vonage Holdings Corp. asked a federal appeals court to throw out a patent verdict it lost in March in light of a Supreme Court opinion Monday. The company Tuesday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington to overturn a jury's verdict that Vonage infringed three Verizon Communications Inc. patents and to send the case back to the trial court. Vonage was ordered to stop adding customers after losing the patent ruling.