Skype founders file another suit that could complicate eBay’s plans to sell Web phone service

Skype founders file suit against Skype buyer

SAN FRANCISCO — The founders of Internet phone service Skype have filed another lawsuit that may put a wrench in eBay Inc.’s plan to sell Skype for $2 billion to a private investor group.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in a Delaware state court, Joost N.V. and Joltid Ltd. sued former Joost CEO Mike Volpi, alleging he breached his legal duty to Joost by using confidential information to form a deal with eBay to buy the majority of Skype.

Volpi is a former Skype board member and partner at Index Ventures, part of a group of private investors buying Skype. He stepped down as Joost CEO in July, but remained its chairman until just after eBay announced in early September that it would sell Skype.

Joost and Joltid were founded by Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who sold Skype to eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005 and left the company in 2007.

Despite posting strong growth — Skype’s revenue rose 25 percent to $170 million in the second quarter — eBay’s history with the company has been rocky. EBay ended up taking a $900 million write-down on Skype in 2007, basically acknowledging it had significantly overvalued it.

EBay said this month that rather than spin off the company through a public stock offering, it will sell 65 percent of Skype to a group of private investment funds for $1.9 billion in cash and $125 million to be paid later. EBay will own the other 35 percent.

Now, Joost and Joltid allege that Volpi was able to bring together investors to make a “surprisingly aggressive” bid for Skype by using his knowledge of the technology that Skype licenses from Joltid to route calls over the Internet.

The lawsuit also alleges Volpi breached Joost’s trust as its CEO by not returning a computer and confidential information, despite Joost’s repeated demands.

The companies seek the return of documents and files containing confidential information, a prohibition on the use of any of the information and unspecified damages.

Sayula Kirby, a spokeswoman for Index Ventures — which was also named as a defendant in the suit — said the company had no comment. EBay also declined comment.

The lawsuit filing comes two days after Joltid filed a copyright infringement suit against Skype and eBay in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleging that Skype violated an agreement over the use of the Joltid technology.

That suit, which also names as defendants the private investors who agreed to buy Skype, seeks monetary damages and an order blocking Skype from using the technology. It follows an ongoing licensing dispute between Joltid and Skype in a U.K. court, for which a trial is set for next June.

San Jose, Calif.-based online marketplace operator eBay has said it is developing software that may be used to keep running Skype if it can’t resolve the dispute with Joltid. It noted, though, that its efforts might not be successful.