The future of internet phone service Skypecould be resolved soon, according to US reports, as a legal
dispute over the core technology behind the service moves closer to
a resolution.
The future of Skype was thrown into uncertainty after its
founders launched a legal battle with a group of investors that won
a bid to buy Skype from its owner, eBay, in September.
Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis filed copyright
infringement claims in a move that threatened to scuttle the
investors' $1.9bn deal to buy a majority share in Skype.
Without the licences to the peer-to-peer core technology owned
by Zennstrom and Friis through their company Joltid, Skype would be
incapable of continuing its services.
But a resolution could be announced as soon as this week,
according to the New York Times, which quotes several anonymous
sources close to the negotiations.
The legal settlement is expected to restructure the group buying
Skype to give Zennstrom and Friis a significant stake in Skype, in
exchange for dropping the potentially crippling lawsuits.
London-based venture capital firm Index Venture is expected to
withdraw from the deal after partner Michelangelo Volpi became the
focus of litigation over the Skype deal.
Volpi, who worked for Zennstrom and Friis at a firm called
Joost, was accused of using confidential information about Skype's
software to assemble the buyout team and make a successful bid.
According to the sources, the deal is at a delicate stage and
could still collapse.
Skype earned $185m for eBay in the last quarter. But
eBay decided to sell its majority stake in Skype because it did
not fit with the auction house's core business.