Does eBay really not own Skype's IP?

It would appear that eBay does not actually own the IP for Skype, though the company paid $2.6bn + earnouts (a total of $4.1bn) for - GigaOm:

In March — a month before it announced plans for the Skype IPO — eBay filed a claim against Joltid related to the license in the English High Court of Justice. Joltid responded by terminating the license agreement between the two companies. According to eBay’s claim:

Joltid has alleged that Skype should not possess, use or modify certain software source code and that, by doing so, and by disclosing such code in certain U.S. patent cases pursuant to orders from U.S. courts, Skype has breached the license agreement.

The usual legal snipes ensued, with Joltid alleging in a counterclaim that eBay and Skype were infringing its copyright. Skype, meanwhile, asked the court to declare that it’s not in breach of the licensing agreement. The outcome is unclear, but without a resolution with Joltid the whole dispute won’t go to court until June of next year. That will delay a Skype IPO by months at best and, depending on the outcome, could hurt its chances of ever seeing the light of day.

In the filing, after noting that it’s confident of its legal position, eBay said ominously:

[T]here is the possibility of an adverse result if the matter is not resolved through negotiation. Skype has begun to develop alternative software to that licensed through Joltid. However, such software development may not be successful, may result in loss of functionality or customers even if successful, and will in any event be expensive. If Skype was to lose the right to use the Joltid software as the result of the litigation, and if alternative software was not available, Skype would be severely and adversely affected and the continued operation of Skype’s business as currently conducted would likely not be possible.

Although Skype hasn’t been integrated into eBay’s e-commerce business, as the company hoped it would be when the acquisition was announced, it has been an area of growth for eBay. Skype’s revenue grew 26 percent in the second quarter of 2009 to $145 million as registered users increased by 47 percent to 405 million.

If true, this is corporate incompetence on a breathtaking scale:

- What did they value the business so highly on, if not the IP?
- Why did they not at least secure a non negotiable right to use the IP, so that future strategic plans were safe?
- Who signed off a deal of that importance and size while knowing the IP was not secure - I'd not want them near any other company I was investing in.

Sometimes, you see things that make you think that the protection of "Limited Liability" on boards of directors should be waived!

I am a shareholder of eBay (a very small one, mind) and I am spitting mad! I predict a Class Action........