So a court decides that your entire business model is based on a technology that infringes on another company's patents. What do you do?Well, if your Vonage and the other company is Verizon, apparently you seek a retrial. It's not unusual for defendants to seek a retrial in addition to appealing. Usually there's not much chance of getting the new trial, but this time Vonage is hoping a recent Supreme Court ruling regarding obvious patents will help the company make its case.
Vonage has asked the Appeals Court considering its case to halt the appeals process and send the case back to a lower court for a new trial. Vonage's lawyers are arguing that the jury in the first trial were weighing the evidence based on a rigid definition of patent law. Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling means that the definition may have been too rigid.
While the courts have allowed Vonage to continue operations during the appeals process, the company hasn't had much good news in recent months. A retrial could rescue Vonage from the brink of death.
