Lawsuit against IDT, Provider of Prepaid Phone Cards

Class action
Does a class action lawsuit get our industry’s attention? Not really. When IDT, the volume leader in our effervescent industry, the “Coca Cola” in a world of Pepsi and Dr. Pepper, was named in a class action lawsuit, few people in our industry seemed to care. The suit represented U.S. customers who purchased IDT calling cards from 1997 to Jan. 22, 2007, claiming that the amount of minutes advertised on cards did not match the amount of minutes delivered. Sound familiar? As IDT headed to the courthouse, many of their competitors seemed to continue doing business as usual. IDT’s decision to fight the allegations brought heated discussion at a past Intele-CardNews Editorial Advisory Board meeting held by this magazine. Some felt IDT was surely wrong and should pay. IDT maintained innocence and the right to defend against any and all allegations. In January when the suit was settled for $20 million, IDT continued to maintain innocence, but agreed to settle to eliminate litigation costs and uncertainties.

Tit for tat
After settling their lawsuit and amending their business practices, IDT’s second-quarter results were less than stellar. In fact, a 10 percent drop in revenue led IDT to investigate its competitors’ calling cards. IDT claims they found their rivals significantly overstating the number of minutes delivered on their cards. In what some would call an ingenious business maneuver and others would term a total shock, on March 8, 2007, IDT sued six of its competitors, alleging that the companies were essentially doing what IDT was accused of in the class action suit, not delivering advertised minutes on prepaid calling cards. IDT’s civil anti-fraud lawsuit is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions against the competing companies. The complaint alleges that deceptive practices by their competitors are causing consumers to lose more than $1 million a day. They are merely trying to level the playing field, they say. This leaves some pundits wondering how long this can go on? How many more lawsuits will there be? Will this industry be driven out of business by legal fees? Will smaller companies be forced out of business or will they start delivering the minutes they advertise?

Source:
http://www.intelecard.com/

Funny Phone Ads

source: www.seanquinnproductions.tk

Jury Issues $156 million Dollar Judgement Against At&t Over Prepaid Calling Cards

A federal jury recently ruled in favor of Dallas based TGIP Inc. on their claim that At&t had used two of their patents that allowed the company to deliver point of sale activation for some of their prepaid calling cards. The lawsuit was originally filed back in March of 2006 and named At&t as well as Verizon, MCI and IDT. The later three companies settled out of court but At&t fought it all the way.

The $156 million dollar award was determined by a 4% royalty on At&ts 3.5 billion in calling card sales during the time frame in question.While At&t is going to appeal the verdict, it seems as if this company has set the proper precedent in court to lay claim to most of the POSA technology in the market today.

Ariel Lin in Phone Card Ads (Part 2)

This is another version of the same phone card ad featuring Ariel Lin.



Click here for the other phonecard ad featuring Ariel Lin

Enjoy !

Vonage Introduces New International Calling Packages

Broadband phone provider, Vonage, has launched a number of new international calling plans for new and existing residential subscribers in the U.S.

The new plans are available to Premium Unlimited customers for an additional monthly fee of $6 to $15 per month. The Premium Unlimited service costs $24.99 per month, and comes with built-in unlimited calling within the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and the UK.

Vonage is now offering customized international long distance plans covering Asia, Europe, and Latin America, as well as a “world” service encompassing 60 overseas jurisdictions.

To better promote these new options, Vonage has added a special search function to its international rates page, allowing customers to conveniently determine which international plan suits them best.

Souce:
http://www.teleclick.ca/2007/09/vonage-introduces-new-international-calling-packages/