By Sharla Sikes

I think I am, but at the same time they give me so much to write about. It’s like the celebrity gossip of the VoIP world.

OK, that was nerdy.

Anyway, this summer has been like a ping-pong match with lawsuits  bouncing all over the place. I can’t even keep track of them anymore.

The latest one has an interesting aroma all its own, however. The much-maligned SunRocket, which shut its doors earlier this summer, has “risen from the dead” to bring a suit against Vonage.

The lawsuit claims that independent VoIP industry leader Vonage misappropriated SunRocket’s customer list.

With former customers still struggling to find service, the “new” SunRocket has tagged LLC on the end of its name. SunRocket LLC demands its customer list back from Vonage, as well as monetary damages.

Vonage responds that it acquired the list legally.

“We obtained the subscriber list through an established broker, and we were assured the data was legally obtained and could be used without violating anyone’s proprietary rights,” a Vonage spokesman said.

SunRocket claims that its customer list is “one of its single most valuable remaining assets,” and that Vonage’s use of the list has caused “immediate and irreparable harm and injury.” It says Vonage broke a confidentiality agreement after talks failed between the two VoIP providers regarding business arrangements.

Vonage returns that it bought the list from a third-party broker, Paradysz Matera, after SunRocket’s demise.

“We obtained the subscriber list through an established broker, and we were assured the data was legally obtained and could be used without violating anyone’s proprietary rights,” Sahner said. “There is no connection to the [confidentiality] agreement.”

Sherwood Partners, the company handling SunRocket’s asset sales, says some former SunRocket customers think it had released the list, and have complained of Vonage soliciting their business.

“Customers are concerned that Sherwood is selling their personal information to obtain capital in the SunRocket liquidation,” which could expose the company to customer lawsuits, SunRocket said in the complaint.

Meanwhile, Vonage continues to develop workarounds to satisfy Verizon’s complaints against it in a patent infringement suit.

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