What's up with Vonage's work-around?

Will Vonage be able to come up with a technical fix so that it's not infringing on Verizon's patents? According to Vonage, the answer depends on who wants to know.

When questioned by investors, customers and press, Vonage states it is working on a technical work-around. But in court documents, the company paints a much grimmer picture, stating that it might not even be possible to come up with an alternative solution, according to stories published by the Associated Press and USA Today on Monday.

Vonage is currently fighting for its life. The company lost a patent infringement lawsuit last month to telecommunications giant Verizon. A Virginia jury ordered the company to pay $58 million in damages, and a judge granted an injunction that would force Vonage to stop marketing its service to new customers. A federal court of appeals granted a temporary stay to the injunction. Vonage will head to court again on April 24 to argue to make the temporary stay permanent while it fights for an appeal.

As the news for Vonage seemed to turn from bad to worse, the company held a conference call Thursday to allay investors' concerns about the company. (The company announced the resignation of CEO Mike Snyder the same day.)

Jeffrey Citron--founder, chairman of the board and now acting CEO of the company--said during that call that the company was in the "early phases" of developing a work-around to the Verizon patents. He didn't offer specifics and warned that a fix would take some time, but it was clear from his statements that the company was working on something. He said more information on the work-around would be available during the scheduled earnings call in May.

Meanwhile, court papers that Vonage had filed on April 6 and that were made public on Friday, painted a different picture. Lawyers for the company have been trying to convince the U.S. Court of Appeals that making a stay to the injunction permanent is critical because it may not even be possible for the company to come up with a technical alternative to the Verizon patents.

"While Vonage has studied methods for designing around the patents, the removal of the allegedly infringing technology, if even feasible, could take many months to fully study and implement," the court filing reads.

That said, Vonage has remained clear on one thing: It believes whole-heartedly that it will be able to win this case on appeal. And based on discussions with lawyers I've had about this case, they could be right. Most lawyers give Vonage a 50-50 chance of having the court limit the scope of the patents in question.