AT&T, Vonage settle suit over VoIP service name

• AT&T has promised to never call its Internet phone service by any other name than AT&T CallVantage in order to settle a trademark infringement spat with competitor Vonage.
• Rather than calling its service simply CallVantage, AT&T must now refer to the service as AT&T CallVantage, a Vonage representative said Wednesday.
• An AT&T spokesman confirmed the settlement, adding that the operator considered the Vonage lawsuit frivolous because AT&T has always called its service that name.
• "I can't help it if the media shortens the name--they do that all the time," AT&T spokesman Gary Morgenstern said.
• Vonage filed a trademark infringement lawsuit last year in U.S. District Court in New Jersey.
• The suit claimed that "CallVantage" sounded too much like "Vonage."
• The settlement is part of an intense battle between Vonage and AT&T to lead the U.S. consumer market for services based on voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP--software that turns a broadband connection into a phone line.
• In the hands of commercial providers like Vonage and AT&T, VoIP is the backbone of unlimited calling plans available for a flat monthly rate that's typically $20 to $35 less expensive than service based on traditional phone technology.
• In addition, providers like Skype and Free World Dialup allow for free calling between PCs running their software.
• These providers charge per-minute fees, however, for calls placed to traditional phone lines.
• Vonage, which has more than 500,000 subscribers, is among the world's largest VoIP providers.
• AT&T has not revealed how many subscribers it has for AT&T CallVantage.