Verizon prior art found on Usenet

The quest for prior art in the Verizon/Vonage patent fight continues. Last week, I wrote about formal discussions regarding VoIP technology from 1996 and 1997. But the Internet never forgets, and someone has found a 1995 Usenet post that pretty much describes the interconnection and control of voice calls bridged between an IP network and the PSTN. It was posted on the TELECOM Digest, a highly respected moderated newsgroup; if you were in telecom in the mid-90s, you were either reading that newsgroup or you were faking it. Vonage's trial, as discussed previously, never really delved into the matter of the Verizon patent's validity. It's not clear right now where or how that discussion will take place.

For more about prior art affecting the Verizon patents:
- read this ZDNet article
- see the newsgroup posting from TELECOM Digest

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