There is always a royalty and I am not sure how much of that was worked out between Skype and Fring but looks like it wasnt much and/or something went horribly wrong otherwise Skype would take so long to realize that? In a way Fring helped Skype grow in popularity over the years. Sooner or later Skpye is gona axe Nimbuzz in the same way too. I hate Skype anyways for their SkypeOut rates which includes a hedious connection fee for every call. Skype to Skype rocks!