[brudgers]

At this point, I doubt that certification matters for many applications, particularly in the consumer sector.

"Connects to your computer at speeds up to five gigabits per second using industry standard USB cable," probably covers everything short of a the edge cases such as government procurement contracts.

[joshvm]

It doesn't matter at all for the hobbyist sector. If you can afford to push a paid-for consumer product, you can probably afford the license.

V-USB for AVR gives you 2 VID/PID pairs for 500 Euro. http://www.obdev.at/products/vusb/license.html

There's also a 10EUR hobby package which gives you a pair for personal use only.

FUP applies, but if you're breaking it then really you should go legit and pay the USB feds their protection money.

How are these guys getting round it?