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

Garrett Williams questo at gmail.com
Mon Mar 24 04:42:40 CET 2014


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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