On the heels of their patent court loss against Verizon, a federal judge today granted a permanent injunction against Vonage. He added, though, that he would hold off on signing the order for two weeks while Vonage organizes their appeal. The injunction would prevent Vonage from connecting to the PSTN, unless technological workarounds could be found. Vonage stocks stopped trading today after the announcement triggered a 6.2% drop.

The Judge says that the monetary damages awarded Verizon, which included a cash payout of $58 million and a 5.5% royalty rate on each Vonage customer per month, were not sufficient. According to the judge, they do "not prevent continued erosion of the client base of the plaintiff." Verizon lawyers say the telco is "suffering irreparable harm" from Vonage's patent infringement, losing hundreds of thousands of customers to its competitor.