[FFmpeg-devel] license violator seeking help to continue his behavior

[Brian Crowell]

On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 7:44 PM, Patrice
Bensoussan<patrice.bensoussan at free.fr> wrote:
> My application is not linked to ffmpeg. The binary of ffmpeg is distributed
> without any modification.

IANAL.

By my reading, that is only allowed if your work could be considered a
separate work. If Ffmpeg is "part of" your program, no matter how they
communicate, your work is a derivative. The FSF gives "compiler and
kernel" as a counter-example:

  http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLInProprietarySystem
  http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Can you remove Ffmpeg from your download and still have a working
program? If not, then I think that you fall under Section 2b, and need
to distribute your software under the same license. You'd be able to
continue charging money, though.

If you don't think you're in violation of 2b, then at least make sure
that you are not in violation of section 3, and that your program
comes with the Ffmpeg source code or an offer for it.

--Brian