Sprint sues four cable operators for VoIP patent infringment

Sprint Nextel is suing Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Cox and Cable One, claiming the service providers infringed on a dozen of its VoIP patents.

The suits, which were filed individually against each operator in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, cite some of the same patents it successfully used in its fight with Vonage (NYSE: VG) in 2007, a fight that eventually brought Sprint some $80 million when Vonage was forced to pay to license the technology from Sprint.

"The cable companies sued by Sprint are continuing to offer phone services that use this technology without obtaining a license or permission from Sprint," the wireless company said in a statement. "Sprint alleges that each of these companies has infringed at least 12 [voice-over-IP] patents by selling cable voice systems and services that use the technology protected by the Sprint patents."

As Karl Bode points out at DSLReports, the suits come just as several cable providers cut spectrum and wireless partnership deals with Verizon, essentially signaling that Sprint could be on its own, without the cable operators it's partnered with in the past.

The cable operators declined comment.

For more:
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this DSLReports article

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