An Alabama-based company has cast a wide net with a VoIP patent infringement suit. snaring 23 telecommunications providers, including Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC-WI), AT&T (NYSE: T), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Vonage (NYSE: VG) and T-Mobile, claiming they infringed on technology created by the firm's founder, Joseph Thompson.
Bear Creek Technologies claimed it sought a patent for what he called "System for Interconnecting Standard Telephony Equipment to Internet Protocol Networks" in 1996. It was issued this Feb. 15 of this year, clearing the way for the lawsuit.
"When Joe invented the VoIP technology that went into this patent, it was when a lot of companies were not even investing in this," said Thompson's lawyer, Anthony Miele. Bear Creek wants injunctive relief and unspecified damages.
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