Andy Abramson broke a story yesterday about Skype SA, it’s founders, and a “slew of others” (including Kaaza) being served with a RICO suit filed by Streamcast Networks. The story hit Slashdot today too, but so far very few details are known. Streamcast made the Morpheus peer-to-peer software, which was a competitor to Kaaza. The RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) act was originally created to help prosecutors go after organized crime outfits. RICO allows private companies that feel they have been hurt by criminal enterprises to bring suit, and StreamCast is apparently claiming that Skype has been engaging in corrupt business practices.

As Andy rightly points out “anyone can sue anybody, and a lawsuit does not imply guilt,” but it will be interesting to watch this one unfold.

Update: Andy has now posted a scan of the full text of the complaint, and Alec Saunders does a great job of explaining the basis for this suit where Streamcast is claiming ownership of some core Kaaza/Skype technologies.

Second Update: It looks like Andy has had to remove the fax of the actual complaint from his site as the links are no longer there this morning. But for an excellent run-down on the history of the problems between Streamcast and Kaaza check out TechDirt’s post on the lawsuit.