Vonage refused a retrial in Verizon patent suit

A US appeals court has denied Vonage's request for a retrial of a patent case it lost against Verizon Communications earlier this year.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit refused to grant the motion. Vonage had asked the court to send the case back to a lower court for a new trial based on a Supreme Court decision handed down earlier this week that could make it easier to challenge allegedly obvious patents.

In March, a jury found Vonage had infringed three patents owned by Verizon, the second largest phone company in the US. Vonage's appeal of the verdict is scheduled for a hearing on 25 June.

Vonage said it is still confident it will win its appeal in the case. The company has repeatedly stated it believes the verdict was based on an interpretation of the patents that was too broad. The company has also argued the patents are invalid because there were plenty of other companies that had filed patents for similar technology.

A spokeswoman for Vonage said: "Although we're disappointed that the appeals court denied our request for a retrial, this ruling has no impact on our appeal, which continues to move forward. We believe our appeal is strong, and are pleased the court has given us the option to use the expanded obviousness test for patent validity in our arguments before them."

The Federal Circuit has already granted Vonage a permanent stay during the appeals process on an injunction ordered last month that would have prohibited the company from signing up new customers.

Verizon representatives didn't respond to requests for comment on this latest news.

Marguerite Reardon writes for CNET News.com