September 16th, 2009
Report: Skype founders sue eBay; could complicate Skype sale
eBay’s $2 billion sale of Skype to a group of investors could be complicated by a lawsuit filed by a company owned by Skype’s founders. According to a Wall Street Journal report, a company named Joltid, which is owned by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, filed suit in U.S. District Court in northern California seeking an injunction against Skype, as well as damages for copyright infringements.
The dispute stems from a peer-to-peer technology owned by Joltid and is used in Skype’s software. Joltid reportedly terminated a license for the software in March and the two sides have been battling in a UK court since, according to the report.
The suit seeks profits earned while the technology was being used in breach of its license and estimated daily damages of more than $75 million daily.
Earlier this month, eBay announced that it would unload 65 percent of Skype for $1.9 billion to an investor group led by Silver Lake and including Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board.
Joltid’s suit includes the investors as defendants.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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