Skype Sale in Doubt as Founders Sue eBay

Private investors bring end to auction site's troubled ownership

(NEWSER) - EBay is selling Skype, the audiovisual chat service it calamitously bought in 2005, to a group of private investors, sources tell the New York Times. Although the price is unknown, eBay recently said it wanted about $2 billion for the the company, which is expected to pull in $600 million in revenues this year. The auction site paid more than $3.1 billion for Skype, outbidding Google and Yahoo, in what many now view as a disastrous purchase. More»

(NEWSER) - The European wunderkinds who gave the world Skype have been approaching private equity firms in an attempt to buy their creation back from eBay, the New York Times reports. Niklas Zennstrom of Sweden and Janus Friis of Denmark sold the Internet phone service for $2.6 billion in 2005, but analysts think they could buy it back for about $1.7 billion. More»

Judge rules publishing Potter encyclopedia would cause creator 'irreparable harm'

(NEWSER) - A fan-written "Harry Potter lexicon" will not be published, a federal judge in New York ruled today, finding for author JK Rowling that the reference guide was an infringement of copyright. The ruling held that the book would cause Rowling irreparable harm as a writer, the BBC reports. The Potter creator had characterized the unpublished work as “wholesale theft.” More»

Landmark ruling holds it responsible for copyrighted videos

(NEWSER) - Google is responsible for all the copyrighted content its users post on YouTube, a German court ruled today, in a landmark decision that could have massive implications for online content. The court ordered Google to remove all copyrighted clips brought to its attention, rejecting the web giant's argument that it merely provided the framework for users to post content, Reuters reports. More»

Social networking site releases statement

(NEWSER) - Pinterest is quickly following up on the copyright concerns that were recently raised by a lawyer and photographer, whose blog post on the potential issues went viral on the social networking site . "Pinterest is a platform for people to share their interests through collections of images, videos, commentary, and links they can share with friends. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides safe harbors for exactly this type of platform," the company says in a statement. More»