On October 22, a court in Caen, France, ruled that a French SME didn’t infringe Skype’s copyright by reverse-engineering the algorithm used by the company for its VoIP services, and attempting to use it commercially.

The SME called Vest Corporation wanted to build a system interoperable with Skype. According to the French online newspaper PCINpact, this case was important because it was questioning the legality of reverse-engineering, and of the products based on reverse-engineered technologies.

The two founders of Vest Corporation have been cleared and Microsoft-Skype was ordered to pay 1000€ in damages.

The prosecution has appealed against this decision.