05-29-2006, 09:44 AM
Morpheus makers file suit against eBay
Posted by psunite on Wed May 24, 2006 11:45 am | Comments (2)
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StreamCast Networks, the creators of the Morpheus file-sharing software, is alleging in a lawsuit that auction house eBay is profiting from peer-to-peer technology that rightfully belongs to it.
StreamCast claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. Central District Court in Los Angeles that Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the duo who developed the technology behind companies Kazaa and Skype, of breaking an agreement to give StreamCast the first right to purchase their FastTrack peer-to-peer protocol.
FastTrack was the network on which Morpheus' file-sharing application once operated and is also the technology foundation of Skype's voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.
Monday's filing is an amendment of a suit first filed in January. The complaint now adds eBay to the 21 companies previously named as defendants and requests that the court force Skype, acquired by eBay last October, to halt sales of VoIP products. StreamCast is also asking for more than $4 billion in damages.
A spokeswoman for eBay declined to comment on the lawsuit.
StreamCast has accused Zennstrom and Friis of racketeering and has added new claims, accusing all defendants--other than eBay--of antitrust violations, said Matthew Neco, StreamCast's general counsel.
Posted by psunite on Wed May 24, 2006 11:45 am | Comments (2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
StreamCast Networks, the creators of the Morpheus file-sharing software, is alleging in a lawsuit that auction house eBay is profiting from peer-to-peer technology that rightfully belongs to it.
StreamCast claims in a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. Central District Court in Los Angeles that Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the duo who developed the technology behind companies Kazaa and Skype, of breaking an agreement to give StreamCast the first right to purchase their FastTrack peer-to-peer protocol.
FastTrack was the network on which Morpheus' file-sharing application once operated and is also the technology foundation of Skype's voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.
Monday's filing is an amendment of a suit first filed in January. The complaint now adds eBay to the 21 companies previously named as defendants and requests that the court force Skype, acquired by eBay last October, to halt sales of VoIP products. StreamCast is also asking for more than $4 billion in damages.
A spokeswoman for eBay declined to comment on the lawsuit.
StreamCast has accused Zennstrom and Friis of racketeering and has added new claims, accusing all defendants--other than eBay--of antitrust violations, said Matthew Neco, StreamCast's general counsel.