I should be clear right up front by pointing out that Skype’s VoIP app is not violating anything, rather it’s their VoiP phone from SMS Networks that is in error. This goes to show that in other countries, the GPL license is taken very seriously. At the same time, I feel badly for Skype as I am willing to be anything that they were completely guilty by association. Many companies have found themselves in this kind of position, therefore I believe this serves as a friendly reminder.

What I find myself wondering is why we are not seeing more of this here in the US? I can think of a number of US companies that I suspect may be in GPL violation. So why is this only happening overseas? Perhaps we will see this happening in the future based on Microsoft’s GPL v3 denial? Hey, it’s certainly a possibility.

Tags: gpl, voip, skype