Vonage and Verizon headed back to court this week for a judge decision on whether the Internet phone provider could be granted a second reprieve while the lawsuit proceeded.  According to a press release, Vonage was granted the permanent stay of injunction by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit of Washington D.C. on Tuesday of a previous court's injunction that would bar the company from signing up new customers.

Following the April 6th decision by the U.S. District Court of Alexandria, Va stating that Vonage was not allowed to sign up new customers using certain VoIP technology, the company was granted an emergency stay, allowing it to sign up new customers as the trial progressed.

"We thank the appellate court for its thoughtful consideration of the merits of our case," said Jeffrey Citron, Vonage chairman and interim chief executive officer. "It's business as usual for us. We will continue providing reliable, quality digital phone service at the best value in the market and connecting thousands of phone calls every day. We remain focused on growing and strengthening our business and driving toward profitability."

Vonage will continue its service by paying the quarterly royalty of 5.5 percent to Verizon through the litigation, on top of posting a $66 million bond required by the court.  The company's current financial status allows it to maintain these fees for the stay in order to make progress in the ongoing trial.

Vonage executive vice president, chief legal officer, and secretary, Sharon O'Leary, remain very confident in the strengths of the company's legal appeal. "We believe the original verdict was based on an erroneous claim construction -- meaning the patents in this case were defined in an overly broad and legally unprecedented way," O'Leary stated, "We are confident this error will be rectified by the appeals court, which hears intellectual property cases exclusively. As a result, we remain highly confident Vonage will prevail on appeal."

Existing Vonage customers will remain unaffected by the patent litigation, and the company feels very optimistic about the outcome of the trial.