Verizon’s lucrative new profit center: VoIP lawsuits

Darth Verizon’s crack legal team has been a busy bunch. They found a money pot in their VoIP patents and they are milking it for all that it is worth. Until there is some kind of a technology shift or a more sensible court ruling, VoIP providers may have to start paying protection money to the big V.

Verizon’s VoIP patents have become a lucrative source of income for the second-largest phone company in the U.S. After squeezing out $120 million from Vonage, the company has been filing patent infringement lawsuits against all comers — from tiny startups to cable giants like Cox. Today Verizon went after Charter Communications. (from GigaOm)

This leaves me pondering a number of questions. At what point does the SCO effect come into play at Verizon? With declining POTS revenues, when will is become more lucrative to sue than to provide any service? A what point does endlessly suing other companies over use of inadvertently patented common functions become a form af racketeering and with what penalties? Who is accountable at the US patent office? Why do we protect monopolies?