Skype Creators Seek Injunction Against Former Joost CEO Volpi

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 15, 2009 - 9:00am.

Wilmington, Del. - The creators of peer-to-peer services Kazaa, Skype and Joost have asked a federal court for an injunction against former Joost CEO Mike Volpi and Index Ventures, where he is now a partner, to prevent them from using trade secrets in their bid to acquire Skype from eBay. Developers Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis allege that Volpi breached his duties to Joost while employed there by dangling a prospective workaround -- that would eliminate the need for Skype to use Zennstrom's and Friis' peer-to-peer technology -- to investors looking to acquire Skype from eBay (NASD: EBAY).

The pair are themselves are also angling to acquire Skype, and through their Joltid company, are engaged in separate litigation with Skype over peer-to-peer technology.

In the new court filing, Zennstrom and Friis also allege that Volpi has tried to poach a number of engineers away from Joost to join a prospective Skype led by Volpi, and presumably help develop the workaround that would let Skype function without Joltid's technology.

"This filing reflects a continued series of public attacks that are guided by personal agendas rather than substantive legal fact," Index Ventures said in a statement posted at PaidContent.

"We will continue to counter this transparent agenda aggressively in the court system."

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/sj7vb (All Things D)

http://snipurl.com/sj7to (PaidContent)

http://snipurl.com/sj7tz (TechCrunch)

http://snipurl.com/sj7yt (Joost/Joltid press release)