So today there are stories flying across the net about Vonage's court victory. Here's an excerpt from NetworkWorld:

Vonage wins permanent stay of patent ruling
"Business as usual" for VoIP pioneer as it awaits appeal in Verizon case 

By Jim Duffy, Network World, 04/24/07

Vonage this week received a permanent stay of injunction from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. that would have barred it from signing up new customers.

Vonage sought the stay following an April 6 decision by the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. enjoining the company from using certain VoIP technology to add new customers. The court ruled that the VoIP technology Vonage was using infringed on three patents awarded to Verizon.
[Read full story]

First, I'll give Jon Arnold props for predicting correctly (Vonage - I Made the Right Call - This Time, Anyway), but for me it begs a compelling question. I used Jon as my example because he and I chatted at length about Vonage and what might lie ahead. We're both pulling for Vonage to succeed, but Jon is far more an optimist than I. For me the question now is whether Vonage can teeter that close to the brink of destruction and pull out after being thrown a rope?

I know many think they can. I'd like to believe they can, but I don't. There's an underlying and fundamental problem at Vonage that's pervaded and this stay of execution didn't change it. The leadership, culture and environment isn't one of aggressively taking the strong positive steps needed to thrive. Vonage may survive, for a while, but will they really thrive. If they don't, do we still consider them viable.

I really want Vonage to come back strong and show the industry something new. But they didn't build their success on doing anything new. They built it on cheap dial tone over VoIP technology. I don't believe that's enough any longer. I think there are are least two other VoIP providers doing more innovative things, and with deeper, more sustainable roots than Vonage. I still think they're a very likely acquisition candidate. They're a bit more valuable than they were a week ago, but I still think they'd do far better, for both investors and customers, being absorbed by someone else than thay can on their own after this near-death experience.

In my mind, the open question is who's going to buy them now?

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