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Vonage: Appeals court says we can continue to sign up customers

<b style="color:#900;">blog</b> VoIP provider says late Friday that a federal court has temporarily lifted an injunction granted earlier in the day that prohibited the company from adding new customers.

Declan McCullagh Former Senior Writer
Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. You can e-mail him or follow him on Twitter as declanm. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.
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Declan McCullagh

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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