Skype has been found guilty of violating the GNU General Public
License (GPL) by a Munich, Germany regional court, a decision likely to
influence the way companies approach GPL compliance in the future.

The
decision found that Skype had violated the GPL by the way it
distributed a voice over IP (VoIP) handset, the SMCWSKP100, which
incorporates the GPL-covered Linux kernel in its firmware.

The
phone is manufactured by SMC, the target of a separate case that hasn't
yet been decided, but the court noted that Skype was liable to fulfill
the conditions of the GPL because it sold the phone on its website.