[Cdrdao-devel] Massive Licensing Violation?

[Scott Fritzinger]

Hey there!

I'm writing to say that I came across a piece of software that looks
like it is violating the cdrdao license. It appears that they are trying
to hide the fact that they are using it by wrapping your software in a DLL.

The name of the closed-source software is DVD Photo Slideshow
(http://www.dvd-photo-slideshow.com). The only email address I can find
on their site is ***@anvsoft.com . The software sells for $60 (!!)
and is highly dependent on the software that it is mis-using.

The software is also violating the licenses of several software packages
as well. I am sending those other projects a similar email. For GPL
packages, there is no source available. For LGPL packages, there is no
license anywhere and there is no link to download the sofware. grep'ing
the installation shows that there is no mention of 'gpl' anywhere.

Project Component License
---------------------------------------------------------------
cdrecord mkisofs GPL
cdrdao cdrdao GPL
dvdauthor dvdauthor, spumux GPL
id3lib id3lib LGPL
lame lame LGPL
mjpeg-tools mpeg2enc, mplex GPL

I may very well have missed other violations. This is pretty freaking
stupid of the company. With such a large number of violations, I'm
wondering if the FSF would jump in to represent all of the projects?

- Scott Fritzinger
Founder and former developer for the gPhoto Project

[Denis Leroy]

Post by Scott Fritzinger
Hey there!
I'm writing to say that I came across a piece of software that looks
like it is violating the cdrdao license. It appears that they are
trying
to hide the fact that they are using it by wrapping your software in
a DLL.
The name of the closed-source software is DVD Photo Slideshow
(http://www.dvd-photo-slideshow.com). The only email address I can
find
(!!)
and is highly dependent on the software that it is mis-using.
The software is also violating the licenses of several software
packages
as well. I am sending those other projects a similar email. For GPL
packages, there is no source available. For LGPL packages, there is
no
license anywhere and there is no link to download the sofware.
grep'ing
the installation shows that there is no mention of 'gpl' anywhere.
Project Component License
---------------------------------------------------------------
cdrecord mkisofs GPL
cdrdao cdrdao GPL
dvdauthor dvdauthor, spumux GPL
id3lib id3lib LGPL
lame lame LGPL
mjpeg-tools mpeg2enc, mplex GPL
I may very well have missed other violations. This is pretty freaking
stupid of the company. With such a large number of violations, I'm
wondering if the FSF would jump in to represent all of the projects?

Yes definitely, we need to seek help from either (or both) EFF and FSF.

[Scott Fritzinger]

Denis and others,

In the DVD Photo Slideshow installation, the file "BurnLib.dll" contains
cdrdao (and Nero client libraries). If you grep for "PQChannelEncoder",
you'll see the mention. If you hex edit it, you'll see the cdrdao error
messages and strings around "PQChannelEncoder".

-Scott

Post by Denis Leroy
Yes definitely, we need to seek help from either (or both) EFF and FSF.

Post by Scott Fritzinger
Hey there!
I'm writing to say that I came across a piece of software that looks
like it is violating the cdrdao license. It appears that they are
trying
to hide the fact that they are using it by wrapping your software in
a DLL.
The name of the closed-source software is DVD Photo Slideshow
(http://www.dvd-photo-slideshow.com). The only email address I can
find
(!!)
and is highly dependent on the software that it is mis-using.
The software is also violating the licenses of several software
packages
as well. I am sending those other projects a similar email. For GPL
packages, there is no source available. For LGPL packages, there is
no
license anywhere and there is no link to download the sofware.
grep'ing
the installation shows that there is no mention of 'gpl' anywhere.
Project Component License
---------------------------------------------------------------
cdrecord mkisofs GPL
cdrdao cdrdao GPL
dvdauthor dvdauthor, spumux GPL
id3lib id3lib LGPL
lame lame LGPL
mjpeg-tools mpeg2enc, mplex GPL
I may very well have missed other violations. This is pretty freaking
stupid of the company. With such a large number of violations, I'm
wondering if the FSF would jump in to represent all of the projects?

[Denis Leroy]

Post by Scott Fritzinger
Denis and others,
In the DVD Photo Slideshow installation, the file "BurnLib.dll"
contains
cdrdao (and Nero client libraries). If you grep for
"PQChannelEncoder",
you'll see the mention. If you hex edit it, you'll see the cdrdao
error
messages and strings around "PQChannelEncoder".
-Scott

So have you tried contacting them (and when) ?

[Thomas Plank]

Hallo Jörg!
Da auch Teile deines Programmes dabei verwendet werden, schick ich dieses

Danke für die Info!

Bitte gerne.

Bist Du auf der Mailingliste?

Ja, als cdrdao 1.2.2 herauskam, habe ich es nur mühsam auf win32 zum
Laufen gebracht, seither habe ich die Liste abonniert.

Ist da eine Antwort gekommen? Irgendwie scheint cdrdao ja relativ tot zu sein.

Ja, es gab Replies.
Sende sie dir auch.

Es war erst das 5.e Thema in diesem Jahr, also so gut wie kein Traffic.

[Denis Leroy]

Hallo Jörg!
Da auch Teile deines Programmes dabei verwendet werden, schick ich

dieses

Danke für die Info!

Bitte gerne.

Bist Du auf der Mailingliste?

Ja, als cdrdao 1.2.2 herauskam, habe ich es nur mühsam auf win32 zum
Laufen gebracht, seither habe ich die Liste abonniert.

Ist da eine Antwort gekommen? Irgendwie scheint cdrdao ja relativ

tot zu sein.
Ja, es gab Replies.
Sende sie dir auch.
Es war erst das 5.e Thema in diesem Jahr, also so gut wie kein
Traffic.

In english please.

[Thomas Plank]

Post by Denis Leroy
In english please.

Sorry for that.
I forwarded Scott's mail to Joerg Schilling who is the programmer of the
cdrtools which are also affected by the GPL violations.

Since the "Reply-To:" header was set this mail shouldn't have been sent to
the cdrdao mailing list.