Sprint Sues Comcast, TWC, Cox And Cable One Over VoIP Patents

Sprint Nextel sued Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Cable One, alleging that the cable companies infringe 12 patents related to transmitting voice calls over Internet Protocol networks. Sprint filed four separate lawsuits against the cable companies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas in Kansas City.

"The cable companies sued by Sprint are continuing to offer phone services that use this technology without obtaining a license or permission from Sprint," the wireless company said. "Sprint alleges that each of these companies has infringed at least 12 [voice-over-IP] patents by selling cable voice systems and services that use the technology protected by the Sprint patents." The dozen patents at issue include some that Sprint had successfully sued voice-over-Internet provider Vonage over. A federal jury in September 2007 found Vonage infringed six Sprint patents, after which Vonage agreed to pay $80 million to Sprint to settle the lawsuit and to license Sprint's VoIP patent portfolio.