EBay building software to replace Skype technology
EBay is building new software to run its Skype Internet calling service, a bid to sidestep a licensing dispute with Skype’s founders, who have threatened to take back the underlying technology. The new software will be expensive and might not work, San Jose-based eBay said Wednesday in a regulatory filing. The company said it might have to shut down Skype if the dispute with the founders isn’t resolved.
The dispute threatens to interfere with plans by eBay CEO John Donahoe to take Skype public in the first half of 2010. EBay bought Skype in 2005, though the rights to some of its so-called peer-to-peer technology remained with the founders. EBay’s plan to create new software is unlikely to work, said Jayanth Angl, an analyst at Info-Tech Research.
Comments are closed.