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Skype Gives Up Anti-GPL Appeal

Posted by kdawson on from the green-enveloope dept.

l2718 writes "Yesterday we discussed Skype's appeal of a German court's ruling against them regarding a violation of the GPL. Harald Welte (the plaintiff) now reports in his blog that following oral argument, Skype decided to drop the appeal and accept the lower court ruling in Weite's favor. More details and analysis at Groklaw. Congratulations to Mr. Welte and GPL-violations.org!"

14 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. As Groklaw says... by Dekortage · · Score: 5, Informative

    "To all those who don't like the license: you don't have to use it. Just write your own code. But if you want to use GPL code, the license comes with it. It's a package deal. Thanks."

    (which has been oft-said on /.)

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    1. Re:As Groklaw says... by William+Robinson · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Absolutely

      Also,

      If a publisher wants to publish a book of an author that wants his book only to be published in a green envelope, then that might seem odd to you, but still you will have to do it as long as you want to publish the book and have no other agreement in place.

      It is freedom, in a way, that binds you with some responsibility. And how difficult it is for many people to understand.

      One does have freedom to choose not to drive on roads. But when you choose to drive on roads, there is binding of following certain traffic rules, for the benefit of all. And one must understand the logic behind those bindings.

      Go...Penguin ...Go...

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      hilarious
    2. Re:As Groklaw says... by Dekortage · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is freedom, in a way, that binds you with some responsibility. And how difficult it is for many people to understand.

      People often want to have authority without responsibility: let me do what I want, without having to pay attention to other people's terms, short- and long-term impact, etc. But if you want freedom from this responsibility, you must also give up the authority that requires it. You can try to fight it, but this always comes back in the end.

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  2. What is the Software? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What GPL'd software did Skype use and how was it discovered that Skype was using it?

    1. Re:What is the Software? by Tester · · Score: 4, Informative

      What GPL'd software did Skype use and how was it discovered that Skype was using it? The Linux kernel...
    2. Re:What is the Software? by jimmypw · · Score: 5, Informative

      They took the open moko device and rebranded it as their own which was fair and legal. What they didnt do was make the source code available for those modifications which is required under section 3 of the GPL. They then packeged their item with a link to the source code but that didnt meet the terms of the license as only people with an internet connection can access it (its a skype device so wouldnt they have an internet conenction to A. Order one and B. Use it) They then claimed the GPL license violated anti-trust yesterday before giving up today.

      As for how it was discovered i'm not sure. Im guessing that as they complied with the rest of the agreement they left the copyright notice in.

      Glorious day

    3. Re:What is the Software? by Daengbo · · Score: 4, Informative

      When they supplied a link, it didn't meet the licensing terms because they still didn't notify the receiver of his right to redistribute.

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  3. Two thoughts on this by stirz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This ist the first time, a foreign firm loses in a German court in a GPL-related case. Furthermore, the judge pointed out that it is not sufficient to offer the related sources only on the internet and mention this in a rather general way in the product manual.

    Go Harald :-)

    Regards

    Stirz

  4. Re:Regarding the summary... by stirz · · Score: 5, Informative

    He's called Harald Welte .

  5. And thanks to skype too, by unity100 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    for not being a prick and pushing the thing around like sco did.

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    1. Re:And thanks to skype too, by R2.0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Skype is owned by Ebay; prickdom is pretty much a given.

      --
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  6. Re:Important lesson: by Rhapsody+Scarlet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Shouldn't that be "don't fuck with the GNU"? I mean, I know people are hesitant to refer to the Free Software Foundation and use the term "open source" more often than "free software", but not referencing the GNU Project when talking about the GNU General Public License is pretty ridiculous. The penguin may have helped spread free software and all, but this isn't his fight.

  7. Re:So, do we get source code now? by allthingscode · · Score: 4, Informative

    This means that you get to see whatever GPL'd code Skype was using, and if they made changes to that code, they are required to release them as well under the GPL. You don't have access under the GPL to any of their other code that does not meet these conditions.

  8. Re:This is the story... by mr_mischief · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Did the slap down go along the lines of, "Well, since you believed the license which permitted you to make these copies to be invalid, each copy you made was intended to be a violation of the copyrights for this code. We could therefore start the settlement process by negotiating how many thousands of euros you'll pay per copy."?

    I think it really should go something like that. If you think a license in invalid, you're not allowed to use the code under that license. Therefore, you have no license under which to use the code. So if you use the code anyway, you're purposefully committing copyright violations, just the same as if the license is valid and you don't live up to its terms.

    Either way, they violated copyright. It's a damn poor argument to make that you thought you'd just use some code because you didn't think there was a valid license that gave you a right to use it.