Even if Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE:VG) can resolve its patent issues with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) -- and that's a huge if -- , the pioneering Internet phone service provider is still doomed.

As I've argued before, Vonage is in a commodity business where people decide what to buy based solely on price. I just don't see how the Holmdel, New Jersey-based company will be able to compete against much larger rivals including Verizon and Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA).

Plus, the company continues to spend bucket loads of money. Selling, general and administrative expenses soared 72 percent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier and 11 percent from the fourth quarter in part because of the Verizon litigation. SG&A represented 46 percent of revenue in the quarter, up from 44 percent last year, and 45 percent in the fourth quarter.

Customer churn, long a problem for Vonage, rose in the 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent in the last quarter. Earlier this week, Vonage named Jamie Haenggi, who joined the company last year from ADT, as chief marketing officer where she will be responsible for "spearheading a more unified marketing approach at Vonage in line with the company's announced strategy of improving its competitive position in the marketplace," according to a press release.

Ultimately, the court will decide whether CEO Jeffrey Citron's claims that the company has found a way to work around the Verizon patent is correct. His opinion, which helped push Vonage's shares up yesterday and today, isn't the one that matters.