Net2Phone suing the pants off Skype

Remember Net2Phone, that way-too-early-to-market VoIP telephony software and service company back in the 90s? Remember how people were trying frantically to save cash on their calls because huge buckets of free long distance cellphone minutes weren't yet available, and everyone had had to suffer with their product over dial-up back then? Well, suffice to say, times have changed, when you think internet telephony nowadays, you either think SIP, or you think Skype. We'd imagine it'd be hard to sue SIP, it being an IETF VoIP telephony standard, but it looks like Net2Phone is gonna try to put eBay's Skype division through the ringer for infringement of US Patent 6,108,704, originally filed September 25th, 1995. Net2Phone's patent outlines the process of a point-to-point internet protocol that would enable a third party service to determine whether end points are online, and then broker data exchanges -- apparently via email. No, nothing much appears to be said about VoIP communications or the like, just biz on brokering data and email, pretty much like any other P2P system ever dreamed up, from IM to BitTorrent. As usual, the lawsuit carries the certain scent of one party trying to reach into the other's deep pockets, but we'll keep you posted on important developments in the case because you just never know.

[Via Yahoo]