Net2Phone Wants Some Of Skype's eBay Loot, Too

from the and-so-it-goes dept

Fri, Jun 2nd 2006 5:28pm — Mike Masnick

Considering how much eBay paid for Skype, it's no surprise that lots of companies are gunning for the company in some form or another. The latest is that VoIP firm Net2Phone, who has been around forever, is accusing Skype (and eBay) of violating its patents on point to point internet calling. The company is claiming lots of lost revenue because of this. Of course, it might make you wonder, if Net2Phone is so upset about lost revenue, why didn't they build Skype themselves and capture all that revenue when they had such a huge headstart?

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16 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2006 @ 9:21pm

Yarrr
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2006 @ 11:29pm

OmG !!!1 A pirate !
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STJ, 3 Jun 2006 @ 12:56am

Does that mean For can sue Chevy due to lost sales when they started build cars?
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mike mixer, 3 Jun 2006 @ 1:00am

Net2Phone
The answer's easy, they didn't have the money to expand so they just waited until somebody else made a bundle then presto! "Where's my money bitch"
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ScaredofTheMan, 3 Jun 2006 @ 6:51am

Man These guys have some nerve. IDT Net2Phones parent company sold it During the DotCom Boom for $1Billion dollars, then after ATT completely failed to leverage it for fear cutting into their traditional Longdistance business they sold it back to IDT for pennys on the dollar. AND NOW, they woke up one morning and think....hey...Ebay...skype.. $4billion... Gimme Gimme gimme!
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Bah, 3 Jun 2006 @ 2:30pm

So what. Skype is shit now that they charge you for calls. There's no point in having it anymore. It was fun back when it let you call anyone you wanted without having to make a purchase first, but they got money hungry like all other internet businesses, and now I as well as everyone else I know has deleted Skype off their computer because it no longer serves a purpose.
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flan4u, 3 Jun 2006 @ 2:42pm

Net2phone was great
I loved net2phone until IDT bought them out. They were great. After IDT they got better and added services for a short time, but then started charging more and more and removing service options so I stop using them for even a phone card (one of the lowest available for awhile).

Now for the patent issue. Shouldn't ATT be suing the bunch of them for point to point VOIP if a penny is to be made? "Speak Freely" was the first mainstream VOIP app. that I'm aware of, and doesn't that date back to about 1979?

I rarely, but do occasionally use it still, but it is a pain trying to tell someone how to setup pass through etc... on there broadband router and modem to use it. It just worked with dial-up, and fairly well. It's as clear as a land-line on even slow DSL and decent on 56k.

Haven't all of these companies just added a better front-end and expanded options to an existing technology?

And why would net2phone deserve a paycheck for poor salesmanship? If both vendors offer similar services with similar rates and similar quality, then it comes down to marketing and customer satisfaction.

By the way, Speak Freely is still free, and the calls to anywhere are also free, you just have to tinker with it and your router etc.. a bit, but it;s worth every penny being free :
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angry dude, 3 Jun 2006 @ 5:33pm

nothing's unexpected
I correctly predicted in Wikipedia's Skype entry about a week ago that Skype is going to be sued for IP violations.
Now that prediction of mine is a reality.
Ha-Ha-Ha-har-Har-ha-Ha-ah .......................

(I am not connected to fucking Skype or Net2fuckingPhone in any way...Have a good day, people of techdirt...)
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Posterlogo, 3 Jun 2006 @ 5:48pm

PGPfone, if you can find it, was the best computer to computer multi-platform compatible full-duplex internet telephony program out there. Was great in college for keeping in touch with my friends at other universities.
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Joe Alien, 3 Jun 2006 @ 10:01pm

Re:
Nothing is free, even if it's free. Skype uses someone elses investment to communicate freely. At some point, free has to be paid for. By you, and by me.
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STFU, 4 Jun 2006 @ 11:08am

Re:
As my name implies. I think that it is insane to think that a company owes you the right to call anyone. More power to a company for making some money by giving a service that is better. Oh, and for those of you that are not familier with the term STFU it stands for Shut the F*** up.
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John Doe, 4 Jun 2006 @ 11:46am

Do all of these lawsuits in the tech industry piss anyone else off? It's starting to remind me of thst South Park episode when it's "Everyone vs. Everyone"
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Scott, 4 Jun 2006 @ 2:25pm

Re:
Hmm I make calls on Skype for free.

That doesn't seem very money hungry to me.
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Meh, 4 Jun 2006 @ 8:57pm

"free until the end of the year"

I remember last time I reinstalled it I couldn't make any calls, local or otherwise, without paying; before that I could. Guess they *temporarily* changed their mind again. 6 months left, eh?
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sean, 7 Jun 2006 @ 8:45am

It's impossible to have sth free forever. Charging sth is not bad, just depends how much they charge. For me, i think some companies offer great price, like wengo, calling to 26 star destinations illimited is not bad.
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HERMANN VON SCHMITTY, 29 Aug 2006 @ 11:16am

IDT VS EBAY
ANOTHER SCAM BY IDT. THS LAWSUIT IS FRIVOLOUS AND WITHOUT MERIT......ANOTHER WAY FOR IDT TO EXTORT MONEY FROM A COMPANY.
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