In a regulatory filing, eBay said that it is set to go to trial on June 10, 2010 on what appears to be a key Voice over Internet Protocol patent dispute with Joltid Limited, which licenses peer-to-peer technology to Skype (News - Alert).

 

As a result, it may have to shut down Skype due to a licensing dispute with the founders of the internet telephony service.

 

Skype has begun to develop alternative software to that licensed through Joltid.

 

EBay wrote in the quarterly filing that it recognized that pending litigation over the technology behind Skype could ultimately have an "adverse result," so it had begun to develop alternative software to the technology it licenses from Joltid Ltd for Skype.

 

In its regulatory filing, which contains the typical disclaimers about the potential damage if eBay's (News - Alert) position is not upheld, eBay said that if the company is not successful, it might have to shut Skype down. But typically, the parties come to some sort of settlement.

 

The latest spat over VoIP patents is merely the latest patent dispute to roil the VoIP business. In fact, eBay also is involved in litigation with Net2Phone about VoIP patents. But Vonage, Sprint, Paetec, Nuvox, Broadvox, Covad (News - Alert) and VoxPath, among others, have been involved in VoIP patent disputes since 2007.

 

In related news, Skype may be banned from use in Russia after a group found that the service is cutting in on the interests of Russian cellular operators. As TMCnet reported, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs said it has concerns about Skype and Internet telephony in its nation and reportedly formed a group to prepare proposals for legislative control over IP activities in Russia, Pravda.Ru said.