Recently the news was released on the network in which they make known the result of the decompilation of the TikTok Live application Studio, which I recently released for testing by TikTok users.
The facts revealed that when decompiling the code, it borrows part of the code from the free project "OBS Studio". The details were revealed and it is mentioned that this fact has been done without complying with the requirements of the GPLv2 license, which gave instructions to distribute derivative projects under the same conditions.
Basically, the problem that TikTok has gotten into, is that this did not meet these conditions and began to distribute the trial version only in the form of ready-to-use builds, without providing access to the source code of your OBS fork.
Currently, the page to upload TikTok Live Studio has already been removed from the TikTok site, but direct download links are available while you work.
In addition, it is observed that after the first cursory examination of TikTok Live Studio, the developers of OBS were immediately surprised by some structural similarity of the new product with OBS.
In particular, the OBS developers point to the files "GameDetour64.dll", "Inject64.exe" and "MediaSDKGetWinDXOffset64.exe" which resembled the components "graphics-hook64.dll", "inject-helper64.exe" and " get-graphics-offsets64.exe »within the code that is distributed in OBS.
After this and decompiling from TikTok Live Studio confirmed the guesses and direct references to OBS were identified in the code.
Far It is not yet clear whether TikTok Live Studio can be seen as a full fork. or if the program uses only isolated snippets of OBS code, but regardless of the case, this results in a direct violation of the GPL license with any borrowing or replication of the code.
Furthermore, the developers of the video streaming system OBS Studio have expressed their willingness to peacefully resolve the conflict and would be happy to establish a friendly working relationship with the TikTok team if they begin to comply with the GPL requirements.
Although they mention that if you ignore the problem or are unwilling to fix the violation, the project OBS is committed to keep under observation that the GPL guidelines are enforced and are ready to fight the offender. It is noted that the OBS project has already taken the first steps to resolve the conflict.
For those who are still unfamiliar with the OBS Studio project, you should know that it develops an open source multiplatform application for video transmission, composition and recording.
OBS Studio supports source stream transcoding, video capture while gaming, and streaming to Twitch, Facebook Gaming, YouTube, DailyMotion, Hitbox, and more. Supports composition with scene creation based on arbitrary video footage, webcam data, video capture cards, images, text, application window content, or the full screen.
During streaming, it is possible to switch between various predefined scene options (for example, to switch views with an emphasis on screen content and a webcam image). The program also provides tools for sound mixing, filtering with VST plugins, volume leveling, and noise suppression.
It is common practice to create applications specialized transmission based on OBSe.g. StreamLabs and Reddit RPAN Studio are based on OBS, but These projects comply with the GPL and publish the source code of their products under the same license.. There was a time when there was a conflict with StreamLabs related to the OBS trademark infringement due to the use of this name in their product, and it was initially installed but recently turned on again due to an attempt to register the trademark StreamLabs OBS.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it, you can follow the thread of the discussion In the following link.