Skype Technologies S.A.

Government officials continue to put pressure on U.S. technology companies to stop censorship in China. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, is joining other government officials to fight censorship in China and other countries.

The leader of the Mozilla Project, whose Firefox Web browser now has 350 million users, said Sunday that she is concerned that legal restrictions could limit Internet expansion.

Mitchell Baker said she worried about "the increase in laws that make it difficult to run an open network," especially rules about content.

Months of legal wrangling over the fate of Skype ended Nov. 6. That's when parties sparring over the technology at the heart of the Internet-calling service reached a settlement, changing ownership of the business and removing a major impediment to eBay's attempt to sell most of Skype to a group of investors. The resolution lets Skype's new owners turn their attention more fully to ramping up growth and adding new features.

EBay Inc. has settled a legal skirmish with the founders of Skype that threatened to complicate eBay's plans to sell most of the Internet phone service to a group of investors for $2 billion.

The online marketplace operator said Friday the settlement gives Skype ownership of critical software that had been licensed from Joltid Ltd., which is a company founded by Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. The settlement effectively ends Zennstrom and Friis' litigation against the investor group and eBay.

After moving to a new building on the corner of 11th Street and New York Avenue, Google's Washington office got a face lift that made it as hip and colorful as the company's Silicon Valley headquarters. But Google's top Washington lobbyist, Richard Whitt, won't be spending much time amid the bouncy balls, LEGO bricks, and foosball tables this autumn. Come October, Whitt expects three times the usual number of meetings with members of Congress and Obama Administration officials. "Google and the others on our side will step up our advocacy," he says.

Joltid and sister company Joost filed a lawsuit Thursday against former Joost CEO Michaelangelo Volpi and Volpi's current employer, Index Ventures Management -- one of the private investors who acquired a 65 percent stake in Skype from eBay on Sept. 1. Among other things, the lawsuit charges Volpi with stealing trade secrets and other proprietary information for the purpose of putting together the successful bid for Skype.

A company owned by the founders of Skype has filed a copyright infringement suit against the Internet phone service and parent eBay Inc. -- an action that could crimp eBay's plans to sell Skype for about $2 billion to a group of private investors.

Joltid Ltd., owned by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court of Northern California. The complaint alleges Skype violated an agreement over the use of critical peer-to-peer communication technology that Skype licenses from Joltid for use in its software, which routes phone calls over the Web.

Una empresa propiedad de los fundadores de Skype han presentado una querella contra su antigua empresa, propiedad de eBay, por infringir el copyright. La demanda, presentada en Carolina del Norte (Estados Unidos), entorpece los planes de venta que tiene eBay de este servicio de telefonía por Internet. Janus Friis y Niklas Zennstrom, los fundadores de Skype, abandonaron la compañía en 2007, dos años después de que el sitio de subastas en línea eBay comprara Skype.

eBay has agreed to sell a controlling 65 percent stake in its Skype communications division to an investor group led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners, but will retain 35 percent of the online telephone service it acquired in 2005. Andreessen Horowitz, a venture-capital firm led by Netscape cofounder Mark Andreessen, is among the investors.

When the deal is complete, likely in the fourth quarter, eBay will receive $1.9 billion and a note for $125 million.

Google on Wednesday announced an agreement to acquire a video-compression technology developer. The stock deal for On2 Technologies is valued at approximately $106.5 million.

Under the terms of the agreement, each outstanding share of On2 common stock will be converted into 60 cents worth of Google class A common stock.