MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Telecommunications stocks mostly edged lower on quiet Monday action, led by a 1% drop in Sprint Nextel Corp . Other notable decliners included Tellabs Inc. , Ciena Corp. and Juniper Networks Inc. , all down around 1% in the session before the New Year's holiday. Among the few gainers were Vonage Holding Corp. and Nortel Networks Corp. The two companies settled a patent dispute, although the agreement does not require payment from either side. Shares of Vonage were up 7% and Nortel rose 1.6%.
MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Vonage Holdings Corp. said Monday that it has agreed in principle with Nortel Networks Corp. to end the pending litigation between them. According to a release from Holmdel, N.J.-based Vonage, the contemplated settlement involves a limited cross license to three Nortel and three Vonage patents and does not call for monetary payments by any party. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nortel filed a lawsuit against Vonage, alleging that Vonage violated nine patents related to Internet phone services, countering Vonage's claims that Nortel had violated three of its patents. Shares of Vonage, which closed Friday at $2, were up about 9% in premarket trading Monday.