Company is allowed to resume signing up new customers Vonage has been given a temporary stay of a federal order that it stop signing up new customers because it’s violating Verizon patents.Vonage on Friday secured a temporary stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., according to a Vonage press release. The stay enables Vonage to continue to sign up new customers until the appellate court can hear Vonage’s request for a permanent stay.Vonage is “very, very excited and thrilled” that the appeals court took the company’s appeal and granted a stay of the district court order from earlier Friday, said Brooke Schulz, Vonage’s vice president for communications. “Our customers weren’t affected by the earlier ruling, but this is just assurance that our … offering will stay in the marketplace,” she said.The temporary stay was granted just a few hours after U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton, in Alexandria, Virginia, issued an order barring Vonage from signing up new customers, though it could continue to serve its existing 2.2 million customers.Vonage provides phone service using VoIP technology. On March 8, The company was found to have infringed on three patents held by Verizon for VoIP services. This story was updated on April 6, 2007 Technology Industry