[Bf-committers] Any legal issues w/ including ffmpeg in my distribution?

[Sergey Sharybin]

I have no idea about patents, but depending on which codecs you're enabling
in configuration final FFmpeg library would have different licenses.

So the only thing which is done for the FFmpeg library we're using in
Blender is to make sure it's configured to be gpl2+ compatible.

Configuration script will print you a license final library is compatible
with.



On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 9:42 AM, Garrett Williams <questo at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm working on a custom version of Blender and intend to distribute
> it. Since Audacity can't include ffmpeg due to software patents, this
> gives me concern about including ffmpeg with my distribution of
> Blender. Playing videos is crucial for my purposes, especially in the
> game engine. Likewise, exporting videos is potentially crucial.
> Does Blender do something special with ffmpeg to prevent patent
> issues, besides the foundation being based in Europe? I live in the
> United States, which makes me very wary of software patents. I'm
> probably even over-concerned about making a feature that looks
> anything like what somebody might have a patent on. Not sure if just
> hosting the site in Europe would provide any legal protection.
> I should add that my distribution is designed to compete with
> Powerpoint, so I wouldn't want any easy targets for their legal
> department if Blendshow(my distribution) becomes successful. I think
> LibreOffice Impress implements ffmpeg in a similar way, so maybe I'm
> just looking too deep into Audacity's reasoning for not including it.
>
> Pre-emptive acknowledgement of disclaimers: I understand that most
> likely none of you are lawyers and I should pay a lawyer more than I
> have if I expect a reliable answer.
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-- 
With best regards, Sergey Sharybin