As a result of the decompilation of the TikTok Live Studio application, recently offered for testing by the TikTok video host, the facts of borrowing the code of the free OBS Studio project without fulfilling the requirements of the GPLv2 license, which require derivative projects to be distributed under the same conditions, were revealed. TikTok did not comply with these conditions and began distributing the test version only in the form of ready-made builds, without providing access to the source code of its fork from OBS. Currently, the download page for TikTok Live Studio has already been removed from the TikTok website, but the direct download links are still working.
It is noted that during the first superficial study of TikTok Live Studio, OBS developers immediately noticed some structural similarities between the new product and OBS. In particular, the files "GameDetour64.dll", "Inject64.exe" and "MediaSDKGetWinDXOffset64.exe" resembled the components "graphics-hook64.dll", "inject-helper64.exe" and "get-graphics-offsets64.exe" from the OBS distribution . Decompilation confirmed the guesses and direct references to OBS were revealed in the code. It is not yet clear whether TikTok Live Studio can be considered a full-fledged fork or the program uses only certain fragments of the OBS code, but any borrowing violates the GPL license.
The developers of the video streaming system OBS Studio have expressed their willingness to amicably resolve the conflict and would be happy to establish a friendly working relationship with the TikTok team if they begin to comply with the requirements of the GPL. In case of ignoring the problem or unwillingness to eliminate the violation, the OBS project is committed to upholding compliance with the GPL and is ready to fight the offender. It is noted that the OBS project has already taken the first steps to resolve the conflict.
Recall that the OBS Studio project develops an open multi-platform application for streaming, compositing and video recording. OBS Studio supports transcoding of source streams, video capture during games and streaming to Twitch, Facebook Gaming, YouTube, DailyMotion, Hitbox and other services. Support is provided for compositing with building a scene based on arbitrary video streams, data from web cameras, video capture cards, images, text, the contents of application windows or the entire screen. During the broadcast, switching between several predefined scene options is allowed (for example, to switch views with an emphasis on the screen content and the image from the webcam). The program also provides tools for audio mixing, filtering with VST plugins, volume leveling and noise suppression.
Building custom streaming applications based on OBS is a common practice, for example StreamLabs and Reddit RPAN Studio packages are based on OBS, but these projects respect the GPL and publish the source code of their products under the same license. There was a conflict with StreamLabs at one time related to the infringement of the OBS trademark due to the use of this name in its product, and it was initially resolved, but recently flared up again due to an attempt to register the trademark "StreamLabs OBS".
Source: opennet.ru