Sharman Networks said Tuesday that its Altnet division had sued StreamCast Networks, creator of the Morpheus peer-to-peer client and network, claiming the company infringed on three separate patents related to efficiently operating a P2P network. The suit was filed in federal court in California.

The fight between the two companies goes all the way back to 2002, when Sharman-owned Kazaa locked users of the Morpheus client out of its network. From there the relationship between the two networks soured, leading to Tuesday's legal action against StreamCast.

According to the suit, StreamCast allegedly is infringing on the so called "TrueNames" patents, which form the basis of Altnet's capability to sell licensed content. StreamCast and its CEO Michael Weiss are named as defendants in the suit.

"StreamCast have been given ample opportunity by all to mend their ways. Their determination to continue distributing infringing material has left us with no choice but to prosecute them," Altnet manager of enforcement programs Michael Speck said in a statement.

Altnet says it issued warnings to StreamCast twice earlier this year that it was about to file legal action, which the company ignored. Approximately 144 million copies of Morpheus software has been distributed, and StreamCast is already facing charges of copyright infringement in the same court.

"StreamCast's brazen patent piracy underpins its massive copyright infringement business," Speck said. "They are simply running out of opportunities to go legal." The suit asks for unspecified damages and an injunction that would prevent StreamCast from distributing software that infringes on Altnet's patents.

Speck's charges of copyright infringement seem rather hollow, however, especially in light of his company's own actions. Sharman Networks recently settled with the record industry on charges it willfully committed copyright infringement through its Kazaa P2P service.

StreamCast had not responded to requests for comment as of press time.