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79 Comments
- JDoorjam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37... like, maybe the text at the bottom of the page that says "© 2007, Vonage. All rights reserved"?
- crawfishsoul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27Suddenly I have this craving for oranges....
- t3hbagel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+28I'm changing my cell service as soon as my contract expires. I love how the power of sites like digg.com unite us all in our quest for consumers' rights. Fellow Diggers, we are a powerful force.
- bagman989, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24Loving this site!! Go Vonage!!
- Trickybunny, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19"Verizon sucks. But.... something about this website just screams "Paided for by Vonage.""
...perhaps you're refering to the copy right "© 2007, Vonage. All rights reserved" on the bottom of the page. - nice.
But praise God for this site - seriously, I HATE verizon; like I hate death; almost more than I hate the RIAA; even more than I hate bee's. - robbh66, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14@Loungeactx
Being that they have their symbol and "© 2007, Vonage. All rights reserved." at the bottom I doubt they're trying to make this a secret guerrilla marketing campaign. - rubicante, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Sorry, that orange you are craving is patented: http://tinyurl.com/34eezn
- Cutkomp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14If I saw someone selling Verizon toilet paper or urinal cakes I'd probably buy few, so long as the money didn't go to Verizon.
- JesusFaction, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I don't think they are fooling anyone, or trying to for that matter.
The point is that frivolous patents need to be removed. - heythisismyname, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12Verizon is out of control trying to claim rights to the internet. If they want to claim the rights to the internet then have the RIAA sue their asses to kingdom come.
- atbnet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9After hearing a lecture from a professor at my university, I'm really sick and tired of ***** patents. He told us about how biologists created a golden rice that contains many of the nutrients, especially Vitamin A, that people need daily in order to survive instead of regular rice which is mostly carbs and not much more. This golden rice could help solve the problem of drought and famine in Africa.
What's the problem then? THERE ARE 74 ***** PATENTS ON DIFFERENT PARTS OF ITS DEVELOPMENT. So, instead of helping people not die due to hunger, companies and universities think only of their pocket books. However, my university has given up all the rights to their patents on the golden rich in hopes that others will follow their lead and make it available to the people of Africa.
Not much on topic, but if just goes to show you how ***** up the patent system has become. Instead of furthering development we are taking steps backwards because people get ***** greedy and patent everything. - LoungeActx, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11@ robbh66
As I said, "way to ***** it up."
I think it could be much more successful as a grassroots viral campaign versus a "Obviously paid for by Vonage in order to try to save our ass campaign." I applaud the effort though. - asauterChicago, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I Patent that!! haha!!!
- LoungeActx, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14Right on....haha...I like how they started off with a great message...then moved right on to testimonials. Way to ***** up the whole guerilla advertising thing with a blatant advertisement Vonage. But at least the top portion of the site is on point.
- atbnet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I won't change my service, it works too well.
- jadenton, on 10/12/2007, -11/+16Verizon sucks. But.... something about this website just screams "Paided for by Vonage."
- griz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Here is an e-mail I received today from Vonage.
There is no secret this site is paid for by Vonage.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Vonage Customer:
Vonage invites you to be among the first to join a new grassroots campaign aimed at preserving your right to choose your phone service. We’re launching a national movement – Free to Compete – because we believe marketplace competition is good, and we want consumers to have a choice. To learn the facts and find out how you can help preserve competition and your right to choose your phone service, please visit FreeToCompete.com.
Since the day we opened our doors, our mission has been to provide consumers with an alternative to the services offered by entrenched landline phone providers. In our five short years, we've gone head-to-head with many of these industry giants, and amassed 2.4 million customer lines with our innovative technology, cool features and value pricing.
You may have heard that Verizon® is suing us over patents they say we violated. Verizon has pursued litigation against Vonage in an effort to achieve in court what it cannot achieve in the marketplace. The suit could result in limiting competition and consumers' freedom to choose a communications provider, which could ultimately drive up the cost of phone service. Vonage will continue fighting this attempt to limit your choice, while ensuring that you continue to receive the reliable, quality service you've come to expect.
As our customers, you are the most passionate and effective spokespeople we have. Let your voice be heard by visiting FreeToCompete.com where you can:
1. Send an email to Verizon telling them you support Vonage
as they defend your right to a better phone service
2. Sign our Petition
3. Learn the facts of the case
4. Spread the word
We hope you'll join us in taking up this important challenge by visiting FreeToCompete.com. Together, let's move the battle for free competition and choice in the phone industry out of the courts and back into the marketplace!
And thank you for choosing Vonage.
Regards,
Jeffrey Citron
Chairman, Interim CEO and Chief Strategist - WindyT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4From the Arstechnica.com Op-Ed piece:
Inventing the obvious?
Two of the patents, 6,104,711 and 6,282,574, are virtually identical. Both patents begin by describing the workings of TCP/IP and DNS in some detail. They then describe the Advanced Intelligent Network, an enhanced telephone network developed in the 1990s that (according to the patent author) is superior to ordinary DNS because it provides advanced routing services, such as the ability to direct traffic in different directions based on the time of day or the status of different destination devices.
The "invention" disclosed by the patent is the concept of applying these "advanced" routing concepts to DNS servers. One of the additional services envisioned by the patent is the ability to translate among domain names, telephone numbers, and IP addresses—clearly essential in any VoIP system that interfaces with the traditional phone system. The server described by the patent would also be able to "condition name-to-address processing on certain parameters relating to a request for translation, such as the time of the request, the party or terminal making the request, the status of one or more potential destination terminals, etc."
What follows is a detailed description of the functionality provided by this DNS server, listing a variety of situations and how it would behave in each. But hardly any of the details would be interesting from a programmer's perspective. No algorithms or data structures are described in any detail.
---
More in the link:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070425-analysis-verizons-voip-patents-drop-dime-on-need-for-reform.html - rocke86, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Orange patent on google patents. It actually has a diagram of a orange.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=sottAAAAEBAJ&dq=orange+tree - nestafett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2oops...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7365345393244917682&q=the+corporation&hl=en
=) - mennonite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3LoungeActx: I don't think they ***** it up, honesty is definitely the best call (in this case at least)... There's a decent set of people here that would have rallied against them hard if it even appeared they were trying to obscure their connection to this site. We're supposed to ridicule astroturfers, even if we usually like the company that's doing it.
- digitalsmash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@nestafett : I'm with you on that one. I think that movie really does give a great idea of what companies are really up to behind the scenes. There are companies out there that patent anything and everything, even if they have no plans of doing anything with it.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Go watch the video of Sharon... it sums the whole site up in one video!
- xptoast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Digg type site or even digg should start thier own electronics age services such as net, cable tv, and cell service and then all diggers would vote on price and such to get the desired working price that isnt too low for the company and such. We would pay a company that works for us and that if makes money pays us the extras to round everything out so as not to be greedy bastards. :) Oh yea says koolaid man!
- sharph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1does somebody have a good reason that was dugg down?
- chetanw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Also the question is: Is it more important to do something to improve the quality of life for people around the world, OR is it more important to improve your stock rating by a few percentage points?
Obviously, for most corporations, the second choice is more important. - pap3rw8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@atomic1fire
wow, just wow. you've never heard that before?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_gore#1999_CNN_interview - franksmith, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Boy... what a shame...
If this were the other way around and Vonage happened to own the patents and Verizon were the infringing party... I am sure that Vonage would just look the other way and say "patents are evil... what do we care?"
Yeah...... right.... just keep believing it you freaks - Aeyar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Buried as Innacurate. That's a "Vonage" site, as mentioned earlier. Whether or not Vorizon's being picky, the post is auto-biased.
- zoom1928, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Changed my cell phone service today to get away from Verizon! I got tired of having most calls drop. Their coverage just keeps getting worse and worse as Verizon keeps getting rid of towers to save money. The last straw was not being able to use my phone downtown. Verizon's stupid actions make getting rid of them even sweeter.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Hell yeah! Nice to see Vonage fight back.
Bad press is a sharp sharp sword. If enough people see how greedy corporations like Verizon manipulate patent laws to stifle free market competition, then they might decline to become customers. - BigCalhoun, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4LOL, have any of you minions even been keeping track of the lawuit!?!? Verizon is not trying to claim the internet. They sought an injunction to prevent use of technology Vonage uses to bridge VoIP calls to the PSTN...far cry from trying to "patent the Internet". Dugg down for lunacy.
- erinspice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I want to know why the petition signatures aren't visible. There's no count or anything.
- jwxa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1We have immediate plans to sign up with SunRocket a Vonage competitor. I'll keep my Verizon DSL and run VoIP instead of POTs. I'll save about $400.00/ month.
- nestafett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Rent "The Corporation" it will blow you away.
theres a part in the movie about how companies can patent life now.
scary.
never mind, here it is on google video here it is from the beginning
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3969792790081230711&q=the+corporation&hl=en
heres part 2, which starts with patenting life - franksmith, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You happen to be forgetting simple math in a capitalistic country
No potential profit... no one bothers with R&D
No R&D = no life changing products or drugs
You can't have it both ways... - threegroup, on 06/24/2008, -0/+1As Aeyar said, it is a Vonage site. Definitely inaccurate.
- jumpfroggy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes, the result of a patent gives you a temporary, regulated monopoly in exchange for revealing your "trade secrets". However, patents are arguably nonsense if they have prior art that shows that the filing company (ie. Verizon) is patenting something that's already been around for a while. I think that's a clear argument; if the patents are bogus, then the whole thing should be dropped.
However, nothing is that simple, and there's still a lot of maybes. Maybe verizon patented something that was already existing. Maybe they didn't. - nestafett, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I wish they gave more of an explanation of what they are talking about, all they say is that verizon is suing saying they have the copyright for voip, but no explanation, no opposing view (not even a refuted opposing view)
not very informative and i dont sign petition or joing campaigns that i feel are hiding something.
oh and i dont support advertisements disguised as campaigns - jumpfroggy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Finally, a good thought-out summary of the patents in question. The website linked by the OP is vague at best, with no information and incredible (non-credible?) claims like "Verizon is trying to patent the internet!" Verizon is not trying to patent the internet. But they're almost as bad.
And I agree with the Ars-Technica spin; we really need patent reform. - javaroast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Check the reviews before touching SunRocket. I've not heard much positives
- zoom1928, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"I don't think I've ever not gotten service with Verizon"
Now I know you're trolling. All you have to do is get on any non-Interstate highway in any state in this country and drive for an hour to see Verizon's pitiful coverage. They're great near many Interstates, but if you work in a city or have to drive on US or state highways, they suck. Their management just keeps getting rid of towers to cut costs. I travel to a lot of medium-sized cities for work so I see first hand just how much worse they've gotten the past 14 years since I was with Bell Atlantic Mobile that later became Verizon. At this point, Verizon's service is much worse than it was 14 years ago.
Just driving from one side of WA to the other this week on I-90 I lost service for a total of more than an hour (as a wild guess since I wasn't watching the display on the phone while using a stop watch;) ) and dropped nearly a hundred calls. I just counted the list of incoming and outgoing calls on my phone from that morning. That's almost a hundred drops to complete three conversations that should have taken no more than 15 minutes each without the Verizon drops. I still can't believe anyone would defend Verizon given that horrible service.
From using my new Sprint phone today, I had three drops out of about twenty phone calls. The good part is that none of the drops happened in a city. They happened about 30 miles from the nearest city w/ a population >100k. Those type of drops are understandable unlike the Verizon ones. - franksmith, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2So you are thinking that companies are investing their money to invent something that they are going to give away?
I guess you think that if Vonage held the patents and Verizon was using them without permission that Vonage wouldn't sue?
I'm not saying for a moment that a product of such (Golden Rice) shouldn't be used for world famine BUT hoping that corporations are just going to start giving away their investments is pretty naive. How many miracle drugs would we have if there were no corporate investment in research?
All you "patients suck" people should move your commie asses over to China or N. Vietnam... they don't play the patent game... and you belong there. - srodolff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Why is Verizon evil here?
If you worked for Verizon as an R&D engineer, you would be pissed if Vonage stole your idea.
Verizon is right here. Vonage just didn't do their homework properly.
And, most likely, Vonage implemented this solution KNOWING it violated patents. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3zoom, where the hell do you live that you're not getting service in a "downtown". I don't think I've ever not gotten service with Verizon... on the other hand, all my friends who have Cingular and T-Mobile get a nice echo in their phone and NEVER have service around where I live (Pemberton, NJ)
- TDave00, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I could really care less about vonage as I would never use them anyway, but what scares me (if Verizon wins this fight) is Verizon trying to shut down the whole voip phone industry. If Vonage is infringing on Verizon's patent then they need to ante up, but if Vonage is using the same technology that all the other voip providers are using then I think this lawsuit is crazy. Voip is big business and Verizon is not gonna be able to shut it down without a huge fight.
- amoo3, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Wait a minute.... Correct me if Im wrong, but I though the whole point of a patent was so that you can have a monopoly on whatever it is you're selling for the 17 years the USPO gives you?
I'm no fan of Verizon, but it seems that the law is on their side... - kbrothman, on 10/26/2008, -0/+0i couldn't hate verizon more. i am cancelling as soon as i can afford the cancellation fee. worst customer service i've encountered. not once but repeatedly.
- ut2k4king, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I was planning on changing anyway. Verizon gives you decent service and all that, but I'm getting ripped off and they're being d**ks about this whole patent thing.
- jumpfroggy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@franksmith
I don't think the question is "Should companies give their investments away?" The real question begins further back; should the US Government support monopolies protected by the legal system on matters like life? Remember, patents are not an inalienable human right, akin to freedom. They're a legal and financial tool for the US government to promote innovation and enrich the public domain. Basically, we (via the government) decided to do patents because we believed it would foster investment, invention, innovation, and enrich the public domain. Inventors previously hid their trade secrets and held on to them to their deaths; now all those secrets are written up in patent applications and available for anyone to use after the patent has expired.
However, if negative consequences of patents outweigh the benefits, then why don't they change? We're talking now about patent reform. I think it should not be legal to map out a gene in the human body, and then patent what you find (basically, measuring something and writing what you find). There's no invention there, just abuse of the legal system. That's almost as bad as, say, certain companies modifying copyright law to force the courts to create technological monopolies in their favor, and prevent any fair competition whatsoever. (Read: RIAA, DMCA, anti-circumvention clauses). -
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