Net2Phone, the Internet telephone unit of IDT Corp. has filed a lawsuit against eBay Inc.'s Skype Internet telephone unit, accusing the unit of infringing a Net2Phone patent.
The suit, filed late on Thursday at a federal court in Newark, New Jersey, claims that Skype's computer-to-computer Internet telephone service infringes Net2Phone's patent number '704. It is seeking a permanent injunction and damages.
An IDT spokesman said he would not comment beyond the lawsuit and a representative from eBay was not immediately available for comment. IDT bought Net2Phone in February.
(Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in San Francisco)
Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited.
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