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Skype Founders File Copyright Suit Against eBay

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the leggo-my-eggo dept.

Saif writes to let us know that Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the founders of Skype, have filed a copyright suit against eBay for altering and sharing the peer-to-peer source code behind the calling service. The founders managed to maintain ownership of the source and licensed it to eBay in their 2005 deal and are now seeking an injunction and statutory damages which could total more than $75 million per day. "Mr. Zennstrom and Mr. Friis have developed a reputation for litigiousness in some legal circles. They filed three separate lawsuits against Pamela Colburn, an investment banker who represented them in the original sale of Skype, in the United States, the Netherlands and Britain. In May, a British judge dismissed the case and said the two men's reason for pursuing the matter in his country 'remains inexplicable.' The buyers of Skype have not publicly addressed the founders' lawsuit against eBay in Britain or their potential legal liability."

6 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. KaZaaM! by JackSpratts · · Score: 5, Funny

    kazaa/fasttrack founders suing for copyright violation? it's hard to know just where to begin...

    - js.

  2. They should have left negative feedback... by VinylRecords · · Score: 4, Funny

    They should have just left negative feedback. Isn't that the policy for a bad transaction on eBay anyways?

    1. Re:They should have left negative feedback... by nemui-chan · · Score: 3, Funny

      Right, but then eBay could have filed with Paypal saying that they didn't get what they paid for...

  3. Summary must have been written by a lawyer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can see he has a key with "(TM)" on it

  4. Re:Some people. by z4ce · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can I suggest you contact your local ACORN office? They can help you set up a tax dodge for the island and probably arrange women through their contacts in Tijuana...

  5. Re:Basically by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Funny

    Copyright law -- is there any chaos it can't cause?

    There's plenty, but don't you worry - it's covered by patent law.