Skype under threat from eBay licence row | Technology | The Guardian
Via Skype under threat from eBay licence row | Technology | The Guardian :
The internet auction company paid a total of $3.1bn for the telephone service between 2005 and 2007 and is now locked in a legal battle with the technology’s owner, Joltid, a company owned by Skype’s founders. That may make it impossible for eBay to follow its plan to float Skype on the stock market next year – and give one of Skype’s creators, Niklas Zennström, the upper hand in any negotiations. Zennström has been angling to buy the company back.
In other words, eBay bought the company at great expense, but not the critical technology that makes it possible.
At least no one is asking for a bail-out…
Chinese Skype users had been delighted to find a way to circumvent their state 
