Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

RICO Suit Filed Against Skype Founders

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the jealous-of-success dept.

Stitch_Surfs writes "Defendant Skype Technologies S A, Niklas Zennstrom, Janus Friis, Kazaa, Bluemoon Ou and a slew of others have been named in a Rico Suit Filed by StreamCast Networks, of Houston, Texas. StreamCast is the company credited with the development of the Peer to Peer Technology called Morpheus. From the little information the courts have released, StreamCast is claiming that the group engaged in corrupt business practices."

4 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. RICO is scary by tehpwn · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's quite scary that a group named Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization is allowed to fill suit against honest companies!

  2. Pacer by Tester · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can anyone with a Pacer account get the complaint full text ?

    1. Re:Pacer by evil+agent · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Good question. And here's another one:

      Can we please stop linking to these damn blogs. Especially ones that are nearly devoid of any useful info.

      --
      End transmission.
  3. RICO use and abuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    RICO was ostensibly passed to help prosecutors go after mobsters. Mafia organizations were set up so that the guys running them could avoid personal responsibility for the corrupt actiosn of the organization itself, so prosectutors ended up always going after low-level guys, which wasn't right and wasn't productive. So they got RICO which would let them bust the top guys, even if the top guys were not directly involved in the corruption. Prosecutors would just have to show that the organization itself is corrupt.

    But now RICO gets used and abused for many other things. It is used to go after political groups (anti-abortion groups is one case I'm aware of). In this case it sounds like it is being used in a business dispute.

    I swear, if Congress keeps on passing laws that inadvertently (or otherwise) lets law enforcement get involved in what are civil business disputes, this country will be ruined. I was talking with an attorney a while ago who said that these days anyone who is a business leader should have a crim. def. attorney retained or available. There's no way law enforcement can help achieve a fair resolution of a business dispute by getting involved in it.

    ------------
    Contact management, calendar mangement, multiple timezones, sales automation