Injunction Stay Saves Boston CommunicationsInjunction Stay Saves Boston Communications

The Boston Communications Group (BCGI), deliverer of prepaid cell phone billing solutions, has received a stay from an injunction in patents litigation that threatened to push the firm to the brink of bankruptcy.

The firm announced Thursday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stayed an injunction that had been granted against it by a lower court. The case is illustrative of the rise in patent suits by firms concentrating in suing other firms. The plaintiff in this case is a patents holding firm in Phoenix called Freedom Wireless.

A BCGI co-defendant is Cingular Wireless.

"We are happy that the Appeals Court has stayed the injunction," said E. Y. Snowden, president and CEO of Boston Communications, in a statement. "With this decision in our favor, we are now on solid footing to continue to pursue our appeal." The firm said the appeals process could take 12 months or longer.

Freedom Wireless was awarded $128 million in damages in a jury trial earlier this year. Boston Communications noted earlier that its entire profits since 1998 were just $28 million.