Vonage: Appeals court says we can continue to sign up customers
Vonage said late Friday that a federal appeals court has temporarily lifted an injunction granted earlier in the day that prohibited the Internet phone company from adding new customers.
In a morning hearing that lasted about an hour, U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria, Va. ordered Vonage not to accept any new customers while it continues to infringe on Verizon Communications patents covering some aspects of Internet phone calls.
"We just got word from (the court) that they gave us a temporary stay until they hear our request for our permanent stay" on Hilton's order, Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz told CNET News.com.
Schulz said the company filed for the emergency reprieve during mid-afternoon on Friday, just hours after Hilton's order.
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Declan McCullagh, CNET News' chief political correspondent, chronicles the intersection of politics and technology. He has covered politics, technology, and Washington, D.C., for more than a decade, which has turned him into an iconoclast and a skeptic of anyone who says, "We oughta have a new federal law against this." E-mail Declan. 
