StreamCast Networks Inc., distributor of the peer-to-peer software Morpheus, announced it has filed a lawsuit against eBay and twenty-one other defendants. StreamCast alleges RICO Act, Antitrust and other claims and seeks a worldwide injunction on the sale and marketing of eBay's new Skype Internet voice communication products as well as billions of dollars in unspecified damages. The lawsuit, filed earlier this year, was amended in a filing with Federal Court in the Central District of California, on May 22, 2006.
"We are taking action because we believe the rights to the Skype and FastTrack technologies were swept out from under our feet, and our 28 million Morpheus users were stolen from us," said Michael Weiss, CEO for StreamCast Networks. "The real story needs to be told."
According to the press statement, "The suit states that the original Kazaa co-founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, profited handsomely from the sale of Skype to eBay only after they and others engaged in a conspiracy through which they, among other things, misappropriated assets and a customer base belonging to StreamCast and illegally and secretly transferred away the rights to the FastTrack technology. Skype allows free voice calling via peer-to-peer software."
