[FFmpeg-devel] Possible license violation: VIDEO CONVERT MASTER

[Michel Bardiaux]

The installer does not indicate any license. The HELP ABOUT threatens 
criminal penalties for unauthorized reproduction.

On the website http://www.video-convert-master.com/index.htm I did not 
find any credit to ffmpeg, nor any mention of LGPL or GPL at all, nor, 
needless to say, any hint of the modified sources.

After installation there is avcodec-51.dll, which in itself is enough to 
make the distribution, at least of the ffmpeg parts, LGPL; and 
xvidcore.dll, referenced by avcodec-51.dll, which is enough to make it 
GPL. There is an avcore.dll which seems to be based on ffmpeg.c

I did not fully analyze the organization of the thing, but there does 
not seem to be an exe that references that avcore.dll, so I guess they 
use it by GetProcAddress, which some people consider a gray area for the 
enforcement of (L)GPL *but* only if an independent library with the same 
ABI exists, not the case here.

Could someone verify my findings, especially the non-findings?

-- 
Michel Bardiaux
R&D Director
T +32 [0] 2 790 29 41
F +32 [0] 2 790 29 02
E mailto:mbardiaux at mediaxim.be

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