« Wii Sports Resort Has Arrived. Are You Excited?
Jay-Z Bashes Auto-Tune With New Song, Company Sales Rise As A Result »

Uh oh, looks like Skype may be in some legal trouble. According to Gizmag, eBay is in a legal limbo with Joltid, the company eBay bought Skype from for $2.6 billion in 2005 and might shut down unless a new software is developed or an agreement is made to keep Skype alive. eBay was planning to use Skype in an independent format to make a profitable return instead of linking it to its auction site. But after a fall out with Joltid over licensing issues and a legal battle, Skype may not exist.

Apparently Skype has “invalidated its license on the Joltid P2P code”, which is necessary for the Skype engine. eBay is trying to come up with an alternative software but nothing seems to be imminent and with a court case looming in June of 2010, they may never get the software finished in time. Joltid does not want eBay to change the software source code to accommodate their needs since the software was not included in the deal for Skype. The software in question is Global Index, a much needed peer-to-peer communications code that Skype is built on.

If eBay can come up with a different software that does not cause Joltid any IP issues, they’ll be okay but they’re admitting it’s going to be a difficult task. With the value of Skype already cut by a billion dollars, eBay is looking for something to keep the service alive and make some money in the process. Joltid on the other hand can win big time. If eBay cannot come up with a plan or new software by June 2010 and decides to sell then Joltid can offer to buy Skype for the current value, around a billion dollars, while making a profit of over a billion in the process. If eBay decides not to sell and loses the court case, Skype might may not exist. Looks like Joltid is in the driver’s seat right now. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.



« Wii Sports Resort Has Arrived. Are You Excited?
Jay-Z Bashes Auto-Tune With New Song, Company Sales Rise As A Result »

4 Comments

Skype was a pretty cool thing. It helped lots of other companies advance to where they are now.

oh no. i don’t want it to shut down!

Well hope they get themselves together.

Dear Guest, please login to comment

Login with your ZiggyTek account

Create New Account | Forgot password?

OR login with Facebook


Please keep the comments clean by not posting advertisements, profanity, or personal attacks. Terms of Use.

Newsletter

Contests

Enter for a chance to win free iPod Touch!

Note: Only registered users can enter.

Tips

We love to hear from our users, so if you have anything you would like us to write about let us know by emailing us at tips@ziggytek.com.

MustRead


PopularBlogPosts

Categories


Archives


Tag Cloud

About ZiggyTek

ZiggyTek is more than a gadget blog - it's a gadget community. In addition to bringing you the updates on the newest gadgets around the world, we give you a venue to discuss amongst each other and ponder those nuances that make all the difference. Got a tip on a hot new product? Let us know! Do you own one of the gadgets we cover? Give us your own impressions! Just around for articles? Take your time!

The Bloggers