Yesterday, we reported that Fring, the popular social communications app that enabled VoIP voice calling as well as video chat to Fring, Skype, and other contacts in various social networks, was in legal trouble. After updating their iPhone app to allow video chat over 3G networks, a functionality that Apple does not yet provide with their proprietary Facetime app, an unexpectedly large spike in video traffic caused Fring to temporarily cripple their Skype compatibility. Skype backed out of Fring indefinitely and threatened legal action. Fring, in a press release yesterday, accused Skype of anti-competitive practices and general cowardice.
Today, Skype is firing back. In a post on the The Big Blog, Skype’s announcement blog, Skype General Counsel Robert Miller accuses Fring and lying about the situation.
“An hour or so ago, Fring reported on their blog that we had blocked their access to Skype. I want to make one thing absolutely clear: this is untrue.”
Apparently, according to Miller, Fring had been damaging Skype's brand and reputation for quite some time now. The weekend’s withdrawal of Skype support is only cited as a single example of the infractions that Fring has allegedly committed with the Skype API. It is as of yet unclear what other violations Fring has committed in using the Skype’s API wrongfully.
AT&T has yet to make a statement regarding Fring’s ability to video chat over 3G after they disallowed Facetime the same functionality.
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