Wednesday, May 24, 2006

StreamCast Networks Sues eBay

Los Angeles-based StreamCast Networks, developer of the peer to peer file swapping software Morpheus, has filed suit against eBay and twenty one other defendants. StreamCast said yesterday that it is seeking a worldwide injunction on the sale and marketing of Skype, and billions in dollars in unspecified damages. The filing is an amendment to an earlier filing made here in Los Angeles earlier this year. StreamCast claims that Kazaa founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis used technology belonging to StreamCast in the pair's popular Skype voice over IP software. StreamCast claims that the pair broke an agreement to give StreamCast first right to purchase the FastTrack peer-to-peer protocol. FastTrack was the basis of the Morpheus file swapping network and is the basis of Skype's Voice-over-IP service. Skype was purchased by eBay in September for $2.6B.

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