Tag Archive | "damages"

Skype Faces Patent Infringement Lawsuit


Skype Inc. was sued by a Luxembourg company for infringing its patents in a federal court in the United States on Thursday. Via Vadis filed similar lawsuits against the internet video phone company in Europe.

Via Vadis alleged in the lawsuit that Skype used two of its patented data access, as well as management technologies to offer peer-to-peer communication systems, services, products and methods.

It appears that the lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware just a month after the Microsoft Corp. announced its plans to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. In the lawsuit, the Luxembourg-based company is seeking damages and asks the court to order the company to discontinue infringing its technology.

Via Vadis has already filed a lawsuit against Skype in Germany and Luxembourg. It has decided to bring its case to the United States now that Skype has been acquired by Microsoft Corp. The court in Luxembourg issued a search order to inspect the offices of Skype in Luxembourg and gather evidences. Skype has appealed and declined to present its source code.

Skype said that it cannot comment on the litigation. Skype offers an application that allows Internet users to make online video and voice calls, as well as chats. It is also popular for its other features such as video conferencing and file transfer. As of 2010, it has 663 million registered users.

Skype is a peer-to-peer system instead of client-server system. It uses background processing on computers with Skype software. On May 10, 2011, Microsoft Corp. has agreed to buy Skype Communications.

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U.S. Administration Sued for Closure of Chrysler Stores


Former dealers of the Chrysler group sued the government of United States last Thursday. The sixty four dealers said the administration of President Obama violated their rights since they did not give any compensation when it closed their stores at the time of the automaker’s bankruptcy.

The dealers filed a complaint at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims located in Washington. Based on the given complaint, the government owes the dealers a minimum of $130 million in damages as a result of the stores’ shutdown.

In April 2009, the Chrysler group filed for bankruptcy and in May 2009, it sent closure notices to its 789 stores, or 25 percent of its dealers. It was part of the government-funded restructuring in United States.

The Treasury Department said in May 2009 that the store closures were essential to assist Chrysler recover from its near-collapse and that it took no part in deciding which dealers and how many of them would close. This time, the Treasury Department refused to comment.

From the given court papers filed last Thursday, the dealers said the Obama administration furnished its authority under the control of the Troubled Asset Relief Program to evade franchise laws in the state that is intended to protect dealers.

Chrysler dealers said they had millions of expenditures on training, inventory, as well as marketing to aid sell Chrysler vehicles. The sixty-four dealers came from several states across the country such as Texas, New York and California. Today, 25 percent of the company is managed and owned by Italy’s Fiat SpA.

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