Verizon now owns nearly 2,500 patents in the United States and around the world, and the list continues to grow.  To recognize the groundbreaking work that represents, Verizon recently honored 94 Verizon inventors at a patent awards luncheon.  Since January 2006, 192 patents have been issued to the company - an average of more than 10 new patents each month.

"The work of our inventors gives Verizon an impressive and valuable patent portfolio," said Verizon Telecom President Virginia Ruesterholz at the patent-awards luncheon.  "These innovative problem-solvers understand how technology improves our customers' lives."

Overall, Verizon now owns 2,044 U.S. patents and 450 foreign patents.

Among some of the new patents awarded to Verizon in the past 18 months were:

• Patents for new or enhanced voice services, such as call management through customer computers and other ways to leverage the connectivity provided by Internet connections.
  
• Patents related to providing IP networking and related services via wireless devices.
  
• Patents related to the configuration and testing of firewalls to protect services (and customers) connected with the Internet.
  
• Patents for new processes that can be used to help battle denial of service attacks.
  
• Patents related to enhancing network capability for delivering bandwidth-demanding content such as video on demand.