[FFmpeg-devel] License violation, Hewbo Video Converter

jean.dujonc jean.dujonc
Sun Jan 16 19:01:08 CET 2011


Hi,

I bought the application 'Hewbo Video Converter' from the MacAppStore ($9.99). This application is also 
available for Windows from their website (see below). Each time I run this application, a line is printed in the 
Console:
"FFmpeg version SVN-rUNKNOWN, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers".

This looked strange since there is no mention of the use of FFmpeg. I didn't find any source code or GPL/LGPL 
hint on the website, neither on the MacAppStore. Also the bundle of the application doesn't contain the GPL and 
LGPL license.

I did an nm on the binary to see the symbols. Here are some of them:

[...]
004bfb40 T _ff_aac_ac3_parse
00dae3e0 S _ff_aac_codebook_vector_idx
00dae3a0 S _ff_aac_codebook_vector_vals
00dae360 S _ff_aac_codebook_vectors
[...]
00695e80 T _ff_mpeg4_set_direct_mv
215ddb60 S _ff_mpeg4_static_rl_table_store
006a3100 T _ff_mpeg4_stuffing
00cba640 S _ff_mpeg4_y_dc_scale_table
00cb9c60 S _ff_mpeg4audio_channels
[...]
0049b220 T _get_lame_os_bitness
0049b150 T _get_lame_short_version
0049b1b0 T _get_lame_url
0049b130 T _get_lame_version
[...]


I am not a GPL/LGPL expert but it seems obvious that this application violates the LGPL license (I don't know for 
GPL). Could someone check this?

The website is:
http://www.hewbo.com/

The MacAppStore link is:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hewbo-video-converter/id404738803

You can get a MacOSX demo here:
http://www.hewbo.com/download/hewbo-video-converter.dmg

You can get a Windows demo here:
http://www.hewbo.com/download/hewbo-video-converter.exe

Regards,
Jean


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