Judge denies DSLnetworks’ injunction request

(Telephony) A Superior Court judge in California ruled Thursday in favor of Covad Communications on an injunction Internet service provider DSLnetworks filed Wednesday against Covad.

The ISP filed the injunction to prevent Covad from using confidential customer information to solicit its customers, said director of marketing at DSLnetworks Dan Melmed. Covad recently cut off service to DSLnetworks’ customers because the ISP had not paid bills to the DSL provider.

“The judge found that there was no evidence of any breach of contract,” said a Covad spokeswoman. “Their current contract that they’ve had with us for two years does not include any language that says we cannot contact the end user.”

The judge, however, did not completely dismiss DSLnetworks’ complaint and will review the case further for a hearing March 8.

“He didn’t grant an immediate injunction, which is what we were seeking,” Melmed said. “But the case isn’t closed on this injunction and it certainly doesn’t prevent us from pursuing additional legal action to stop Covad from continuing to poach our customer base.”

Covad dropped DSLnetworks from service Feb. 7 for failing to meet its overdue payments. Since then, Covad has contacted the ISP’s now out-of-service customers, directly informing them of the terminated relationship and offering a choice of alternative ISP options--including its own ISP, Covad.net.

Although the judge’s ruling did not immediately pacify or bring closure to the issue, Melmed said that DSLnetworks’ future does not hinge on a legal victory.

“Even if the judge ruled against it out-of-hat, it’s not like our business is depending on this ruling,” Melmed said.