Falling Stocks, Banks in Talks, Verizon Takes a Blow From Cox

[WSJ_law_blog]

It wasn’t the biggest news of the day, but it likely moved the needle up at Verizon’s Manhattan headquarters. The phone giant suffered a setback in its dogged pursuit of patent infringers today as a jury decided that cable TV company Cox Communications didn’t infringe on patents related to Internet phone service. Click here for a Reuters story, here for a walk-up in today’s WSJ by Amol Sharma.

Verizon has ramped up efforts to enforce its Internet phone technology even though it doesn’t push the service to its own customers. Last year, Verizon scored a victory in a patent case against Internet phone provider Vonage. A federal jury ruled that Vonage had infringed on some Verizon patents. The companies later reached a settlement in which Vonage agreed to pay Verizon $117.5 million.

But today’s verdict might make it tougher for Verizon, which is battling cable companies to provide customers with TV, phone and Internet hook-ups, to go after other cable TV companies for patent issues.

“Despite the decision, we believe our patents were infringed,” Verizon said in a statement. “We will continue to innovate and protect our intellectual property.” Verizon said it has not decided whether to appeal the decision.