Skype founders tipped to re-invest

The founders of Skype were last night tipped to potentially take a stake in the business with its new owners as a way to defuse legal wrangling over its core technology.



Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom had all but abandoned their brainchild after having an apparently low-ball offer to reclaim it from eBay rejected earlier this year.



The auctioneer, who last week sold Skype to investors, had been licensing the peer-to-peer technology that powers the phone service from the Scandinavian businessmen.



But the duo recently alleged that eBay broke the terms of that agreement, prompting the start of an intellectual property dispute that is set for the UK courts next year.



Now, a newspaper says the pair is set to talk about re-investing in Skype with its new owners, in a move that could see the duo monetise the technology and insulate it from disputes.



Mike Volpi, of Skype's co-owner Index Technologies, who will rejoin Skype as a director, told the Sunday Times that he was "confident" a way round the dispute could be figured out.



Hinting at the likely thinking of all of Skype's new owners, he added: "Every company has a set of assets and liabilities and we understand the litigation is one of Skype's liabilities."