Why does calling Empathy once not bring up an Empathy window?

[Detlef Lechner]

Hello,

Clicking Applications > Internet > Empathy IM Client does not bring up a
window but starts a process »empathy«.
How can I repair or patch this?
Clicking Applications > Internet > Empathy IM Client a second time
brings up a window »Contact List«. This window reports:
"bullgard4 at jabber.ccc.de; Name in use" although this name is not in use.
empathy 2.28.1-1ubuntu1,
'~$ uname -r; 2.6.31-14-generic'
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/empathy/+bug/442222

Regards,
Detlef Lechner