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Google has dug in its heels over an intellectual-property lawsuit filed last October by Rates Technology, which holds key VoIP patents, the company has revealed.

Meanwhile, leading US VoIP provider Vonage Holdings is in “amicable” settlement discussions with RTI over the $3.3bn lawsuit that pertains to the same patents, said RTI president Jerry Weinberger. Vonage declined to comment on the suit, which Weinberger said was filed shortly before its Google litigation.

While Smithtown, New York-based RTI was largely unheard of in the mainstream media until recently, much of the telecommunications industry has paid to use its technology. Agere, Avaya, Cisco Systems, IBM, Lucent Technologies, Microsoft, Verizon and Yahoo are among them.

RTI also is currently in settlement discussions with eBay, which last year bought VoIP trailblazer Skype Technologies.

Skype was put on notice that its SkypeOut service used RTI technology more than a year ago, Weinberger said. And while “it seems eBay never found out about” RTI’s notice, the company has not filed suit against eBay or Skype, he said.

“We really don’t sue all that often,” Weinberger said. “We really only sue those companies we find we cannot talk to.”

Such as Google. RTI was in settlement talks with Mountain View, California-based Google, but is no longer, according to Weinberger.

RTI has alleged that the Google Talk service infringes in some way on two RTI patents that help VoIP calls connect to the traditional PSTN phone system, and vice versa.

“We believe the lawsuit is without merit and we will defend against it vigorously,” said a Google spokesperson via e-mail.

Typically, RTI charges a one-time fee, depending on a company’s size, to use its technology. Last year, RTI charged large companies about $5.2m for use of its technology, Weinberger said. If RTI sues a non-compliant company, “that number is multiplied by an order of magnitude,” he said. “Then, about six months into [litigation] we really will take the case all the way through the end.”

Why Google has chosen to fight RTI in the courts rather than settle or pay RTI’s fee seems unclear, especially given that its VoIP counterparts, such as Yahoo and Microsoft, have reached agreements with RTI. Time Warner Inc also is in discussions with RTI about its AOL unit’s voice services.

But Google is not alone. Cablevision also is being sued by RTI, for a whopping $2.85bn, for its cable VoIP service. Weinberger said Cablevision has not been open to discussion with RTI, which sued Cablevision at around the same time as it did Google and Vonage.

Weinberger stressed that its suit against Google alleges infringement of its patents in ways other than direct infringement, such as contributory and induced infringement, per the Doctrine of Equivalence in common law. RTI has not named a dollar amount for damages.

RTI’s two VoIP patents relate to the way power is held through an Ethernet system, when a VoIP call hands off to the PSTN. VoIP services that use an adaptor to create the digitization of a regulator analog call also apply.

Since founding in 1983, RTI has done business with about 720 companies to use its various telecom patents. During that time, the company has sued about 25 times, Weinberger said.

Last year, it lost a Supreme Court case against Nortel Networks for one of its other telecom patents.

Weinberger said the first court appearance date for its suit against Google is scheduled for February 1.

From Computer Business Review.