Ebay bought Skype in 2005 for about US$2.6 billion but that deal didn't include the peer-to-peer networking technology on which it runs. That technology is owned by a company called and licensed to Skype, but the two sides have fallen out over the licensing agreement.

Earlier this year Skype asked England's High Court to resolve the dispute, according to Ebay. After that Joltid "purported" to terminate the license agreement, it said.

"In particular, 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," Ebay said in the .

A counterclaim to Skype followed, pushing Skype to ask the English court to find that it was not in breach of the license and that Joltid's termination is invalid. The legal mess is set to be heard by the court in June 2010.

In the meantime, Ebay said it has begun developing an alternative to the technology at the center of the dispute with Joltid.