# SmartCut64 external legal review brief

Prepared 8 August 2026. This is a factual submission pack for independent
lawyers; it is not a legal opinion and does not approve distribution or sale.

## Proposed product and distribution

- SmartCut64 1.0.0 is a native Windows x64 desktop video editor.
- Distribution is proposed as a paid per-user NSIS installer and portable ZIP,
  initially by Internet download through Lemon Squeezy. The proposed founding
  price is GBP 4.99, followed by GBP 14.99, with two activations, 12 months of
  updates/support, and a 30-day voluntary refund policy. The proposed seller is
  LINEKERPANDI LIMITED, company number 06406014, a private limited company
  incorporated in England and Wales with its registered office at 1035A
  Finchley Road, London, NW11 7ES, United Kingdom. Intended territories and
  projected annual volume remain to be supplied.
- Each binary release is accompanied by an equivalently accessible exact
  corresponding-source ZIP, build scripts and patches, GPL and dependency
  licence texts, CycloneDX SBOM, debug symbols, and SHA-256 checksums.
- SmartCut64 is offered under `GPL-3.0-or-later`. Payment purchases a copy and
  any expressly described support/update service; it does not remove
  recipients' rights to use, inspect, modify, or redistribute the software.
- Official binaries contain an RSA public key. A signed, installation-bound
  paid token permits clean output. Otherwise, normal video export is fully
  re-encoded with a permanent Evaluation mark and copy-only delivery tools are
  unavailable. Audio-only output is not marked. The private key is held only by
  the activation service and is not corresponding source.
- Customers enter a Lemon purchase email and key. The application sends those
  values and a hash-derived Installation ID over HTTPS to a Cloudflare Worker,
  which validates the exact Lemon product/variant and returns a signed perpetual,
  machine-bound offline token. The raw key is stored locally under Windows DPAPI; the bridge
  retains only its SHA-256 hash plus activation/order/support records. Signed
  refund and disabled/expired-key webhooks block future activation, transfer,
  and support-assisted reset. An already-issued perpetual token cannot be
  remotely revoked. There is no general
  application telemetry or advertising analytics.
- The application was independently implemented. The project prohibits copied
  VideoReDo source, binaries, resources, artwork, and proprietary text. It does
  implement project-format and behavioural compatibility intended to reduce
  migration friction.

## Material technical facts

- FFmpeg 9.0 is dynamically linked and built with `--enable-gpl`, x264 and
  x265. Nonfree FFmpeg components are disabled. The exact configure record is
  `dependencies/manifests/ffmpeg-windows-x64.configure.txt`.
- Qt 6.8.3 is dynamically linked. The application itself is GPL-covered and
  the package preserves the LGPLv3 text, Qt source archive, notices, and users'
  ability to replace the Qt DLLs.
- libaom, libvpx, libdovi, libplacebo, oneVPL, NVENC and AMF interface headers,
  and MinGW runtime libraries are identified in `THIRD_PARTY.md` and the SBOM.
- Product functionality includes decode, smart-render boundary encoding, full
  transcoding, and packet-copy/remux support for formats documented in
  `docs/FORMAT_SUPPORT.md`. Material patent-review targets include AVC/H.264,
  HEVC/H.265, AAC, MPEG-2/MPEG-4, AV1, VP9, Dolby technologies, and DTS.
- No codec, Dolby, DTS, Blu-ray, or other certification or logo licence is
  claimed. The product does not author or burn DVDs.

## Opinions and decisions requested

Counsel should provide a written answer, scoped by territory and seller legal
entity, to each item below.

1. Confirm ownership/provenance of all SmartCut64 code and artwork and whether
   every contributor had authority to license contributions under GPLv3 or
   later.
2. Confirm that GPL-3.0-or-later is compatible with all linked and packaged
   components and that the binary/source delivery method satisfies GPL and
   LGPL requirements, including Installation Information and Qt replacement.
3. Review the proposed download page, About dialog, installer licence page,
   privacy statement, support terms, warranty disclaimer, refund/cancellation
   policy, and consumer-law disclosures for each intended territory.
4. Confirm that no term, activation mechanism, store rule, or DRM restriction
   adds a prohibited restriction on GPL/LGPL rights or reverse engineering.
   Specifically review the Evaluation watermark, machine binding, expiry,
   transfer/deactivation, source-build bypass, data processing, service
   continuity, and the claim that payment purchases clean output from official
   signed binaries rather than exclusive rights in the GPL program.
5. Review VideoReDo compatibility claims, GUI similarity, project-format
   interoperability, naming, screenshots, and clean-room records for copyright,
   trademark, passing-off, and trade-dress risk.
6. Perform trademark clearance for `SmartCut64`, its icon, and artwork in all
   intended territories and relevant software/service classes.
7. Determine which patent-pool or bilateral licences are required for every
   enabled codec and sales territory, whether GPL redistribution is compatible
   with their terms, and whether any licence would create a GPL section 7 or
   Qt LGPL distribution conflict.
8. Confirm whether disabling particular encoders/decoders, offering a
   user-supplied codec build, limiting territories, or changing the business
   model would materially reduce patent exposure without creating another
   legal problem.

## Review materials

- `LICENSE`, `COPYRIGHT`, `CONTRIBUTING.md`, `THIRD_PARTY.md`
- `COMMERCIAL_DISTRIBUTION.md` and `docs/CUSTOMER_TERMS_REVIEW_CHECKLIST.md`
- `CUSTOMER_TERMS.md`, `PRIVACY.md`, `REFUND_POLICY.md`, `SUPPORT.md`, and
  `SECURITY.md`
- `docs/LEMON_SQUEEZY_LAUNCH.md`, `docs/PRODUCT_LISTING.md`, and the activation
  bridge source/configuration under `services/licensing-bridge`
- `dependencies/sbom.m1.json` and all dependency manifests/build scripts
- The binary ZIP, installer, exact corresponding-source ZIP, and checksums from
  `build/windows-ucrt-gui-release`
- `docs/FORMAT_SUPPORT.md`, `docs/HDR_METADATA.md`, and the complete Git history

The review is complete only when the retained lawyer identifies the client,
jurisdictions, reviewed artifact hashes/version, assumptions, qualifications,
and a clear release/no-release conclusion in writing.
