Alec Saunders SquawkBox

iotum is looking for an Ottawa area administrator to replace the irreplaceable Kristen.  If you match this description, or you know someone who does, please send him or her our way. 

Some weeks ago, Ambient Vector CEO Sutha Kamal dropped me a line to tell me about his new project: a blog titled 90 Days in the Life of a Startup, published on the Globe and Mail’s website.  Part reality TV, part news, and all Sutha, it’s a great read. 

Then yesterday, Price Canada’s Ryan McKegney let me know about his new blog Story of a Startup, dedicated to telling the story of how PriceCanada and RedFlag Deals got off the ground.  Ryan’s got a lot less content at this point, but he’s just starting off.

Great reads, and inspiring for anyone thinking of taking the leap into a startup.

Jon Arnold teased me yesterday, saying that he had a story he wanted to break on his blog later about patents and Vonage.  Over lunch, Howard and I were speculating what it might be.  I suggested that it was perhaps a license, in order to make the Verizon problem go away.  After all, if you were Jeffrey Citron, and your stock was trading at less than half its IPO value, wouldn’t you be working hard to clear the decks, to make sure that any and all possible sources of investor anxiety were removed?

It turns out that Jon’s post is that Vonage, rather than licensing Verizon’s patents, is preparing a defensive strategy. With the acquisition of three enabling patents from Digital Packet Licensing, Inc they have signalled a preparedness to fight.  Depending on the price of the patents, it could be a good move. They now have currency to trade, if a settlement is possible, and weaponry to use, if not.  Moreover, it shows that they are taking a longer term view of intellectual property.  They will need a strong portfolio to defend against future claims, like the $180 million suit filed yesterday by Klausner over Vonage’s voice mail.