[XviD-devel] legal question about distribution of xvid

[Michael Militzer]

Hi,

Quoting ??? <zylthinking at gmail.com>:

> Seems you needn't make your application GPL if you only call the APIs of
> xvid, except you make use of the source code of it.

this is not correct! I think you mix GPL and LGPL here.

To answer the questions of the original poster:

I think it is misleading to argue about whether you directly or more
indirectly call a GPLed app. I know that such discussions exist but I rather
recommend studying the original GPL license text because only that is what
matters. And if you distribute a GPLed software together with some other app
in combination it generally constitutes a derived work no matter whether the
single software parts call upon each other directly or indirectly.

As an exception from the rule it is possible to distribute a GPLed software
together with a proprietary application side by side if these two pieces
of software are really distinct products and if this is also visible as such.
So it must be obvious to the user that he obtained two products that do not
belong together and that have different license terms. The user must be
aware of the freedoms granted to him by the GPL.

Therefore, if you make the Xvid installation part of the installer of your
own proprietary application (option 1) I don't think that such required
distinction is preserved. The package will appear as _one_ product where
it's unclear for the user which software parts are subject to which license
and so on. So that's not ok under the GPL.

However, I don't see a problem with option 2). There's no combined
distribution and the distinction between the two different products is clear.
The user can decide on his own if he wants to download Xvid and whether he
wants to use it with your app or not. So that's ok.

Regards,
Michael


> 2007/11/29, Wim Deblauwe <wim.deblauwe at gmail.com>:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Since XviD is GPL, I need to make my application also GPL if I directly
>> call
>> XviD from my application. However, in the following cases, does GPL apply
>> also?
>>
>> 1) I make the XviD installer part of my installer. Windows Media Player
>> will
>> then use the XviD codec to display movies. WMP is started through my
>> application.
>>
>> 2) Same as 1) but now I just provide a download link for XviD so they have
>> to get it of the internet and not the actual codec.
>>
>> So I never call XviD directly, but I start a media player from my
>> application that does.
>>
>> kind regards,
>>
>> Wim
>> _______________________________________________
>> XviD-devel mailing list
>> XviD-devel at xvid.org
>> http://list.xvid.org/mailman/listinfo/xvid-devel
>>
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