Last week, TikTok quietly launched Windows live streaming software called Live Studio. But because it used code from Popular OBS Studio applications and other open source projects under Open Broadcaster Software, the company was quickly pushed to the forefront of "non-compliance with open source licenses." Later last week, @Naaackers tweeted a series of tweets pointing out that the TikTok live streaming software was essentially a fork in the @OBSProject project.
Ben Torell, business development manager at Open Broadcaster Software, confirmed that his team found "clear evidence" of these breaches when contacting Protocol. Unfortunately, although the project team reached out, TikTok has not yet responded.
Last week, TikTok didn't release its Live Studio app with much fanfare. This Windows client is designed to help people achieve high-quality live streaming, while easily integrating game video streams, as well as overlay layers such as images and text.
@Naaackers subsequently pointed out that the definition of "stealing" open source projects is still debatable
In an interview with foreign media, the company said that the current TikTok Live Studio app only provides an early experience for thousands of users in a few markets.
As for the well-known OBS Studio, it is often used by third parties to develop it for the second time to improve the experience in specific scenarios in the form of "cover-up", and the controversy caused by the TikTok Live Studio desktop client is also related to this.
Subject to the GPL terms specified by OBS Studio, third-party projects must also disclose any modified source code under the same license. If there is a violation, it is likely to be sued by the claimant.
Even so, Ben Torell didn't want to end up here. He said on Twitter that Open Broadcaster Software is seeking to avoid legal confrontation.
"We are committed to dealing in good faith with violations of the GPL, but in the case of TikTok/Bytedance, we remain happy to have a friendly partnership with TikTok/Bytedance as long as they are willing to comply with the license," Ben Torell wrote.