Malicious Damage Caused by MakeMKV?

[Woodstock]

From the linked page:

Stolen copies of MakeMKV

MakeMKV is certainly one of the best software for Blu-ray to MKV conversion. Being successful means that many companies are trying to copy our success, and some of them do that literally.

Lately, several companies began selling MakeMKV as their own - they buy a single copy of MakeMKV, repackage it, add a nicely-looking interface and then sell as their own product. Most of the companies and products come form China - examples are Leavo, Pavtube, Acrok, etc.

You see this page because a copy of MakeMKV software is running on your computer, and it detected that it is "abused" by another software. If you were running a version of some "NoName Ultimate Video Converter" and got this message - then you are in fact running a stolen copy of MakeMKV. We can detect such usage, and we can disable MakeMKV functionality for stolen copies.

The purpose of this page is to inform you about the fact, that you are using (and possibly have paid) for the stolen software. The choice what to do next is yours.

So, I'd say what is happening is that Mike found out what single-user licenses are being "rented" to you by PavTube and the others, and revoked them. Easy enough to do - get someone to do a registry dump from a system with the abused license and send it in, and extract the key from it.

In which case, buying your own license to MakeMKV would probably allow the PavTube "wrapper" to function again, but there are no guarantees of that. I wonder if putting the beta key in would work? Starting MakeMKV, Help->Register, and put the current beta key in, so it overwrites the PavTube key...

Long story short - if you paid money to PavTube, you got ripped off by PavTube.

I wouldn't be surprised if you found a copy of handbrake installed on your machine, too; although it is simple enough to put a wrapper around ffmpeg to do what PavTube is doing, too.

[sproggit]

Thanks Woodstock...

If I go with your train of logic here for a moment... If PavTube is using a component of MakeMKV, then it must be a portion that "phones home" from time to time, otherwise there is no way for "MakeMKV" to "know" about my copy of PavTube. That should help narrow down the files on my PC that may come from MakeMKV.

If I could identify those specific files, then I might have an opportunity to go back to PavTube and ask for a refund.

That doesn't solve the problem of the damage being caused, but that's a separate issue. As Chip commented, a better solution would be for MakeMKV and PavTube to agree a licensing deal so that I can continue using software I know and like. Personally - obviously I can't speak for others - I would be happy to pay MakeMKV to grant me a license to use their intellectual property if indeed it can be shown to exist in PavTube.

[preserve]

If PavTube is using a component...damage being caused

You mean if PavTube is a wrapper for MakeMKV - I don't understand the logic that any "damage" is caused - you were notified you've been scammed. PavTube stole MakeMKV - unfortunately, you've been screwed by PavTube - end of story as far as MakeMKV is concerned.

MakeMKV and PavTube to agree a licensing deal

Why would Mike waste his time allowing a ripoff company that stole his software to profit from all of his hard work? I don't see a licensing deal that makes sense. PavTube would have to pay Mike for every copy they sell - and even if that was the case, I get the feeling that given the choice, Mike would prefer people to use his own product as there is also the participation here that assists him in improving it when people submit reports, etc. Never going to happen - my advice is don't hold your breath.

[yorgo]

Thanks Woodstock...

If I go with your train of logic here for a moment... If PavTube is using a component of MakeMKV, then it must be a portion that "phones home" from time to time, otherwise there is no way for "MakeMKV" to "know" about my copy of PavTube. That should help narrow down the files on my PC that may come from MakeMKV.

If I could identify those specific files, then I might have an opportunity to go back to PavTube and ask for a refund.

That doesn't solve the problem of the damage being caused, but that's a separate issue. As Chip commented, a better solution would be for MakeMKV and PavTube to agree a licensing deal so that I can continue using software I know and like. Personally - obviously I can't speak for others - I would be happy to pay MakeMKV to grant me a license to use their intellectual property if indeed it can be shown to exist in PavTube.

I doubt this will happen; as preserve pointed out, why should MakeMKV wish to grant licensing to a company that has stolen from it (maybe Mike is a kinder, gentler soul than me... )? Also, I seriously doubt that PavTube or similar ilk would want to acquire a license to use in their package. First, it would mean they admit they did something wrong and possibly illegal, opening the door for legal action. Secondly, they would not only have to pay for future licensing but also back-royalties for all PavTube software sold to date that inappropriately used MakeMKV. How many licenses would that be? 100? 1000? 10,000? More? Could be a LOT of money. Since they used it illegally in the first place, I expect they won't be paying anytime soon.

sproggit, perhaps you (and we) are going about this all wrong. You seem to want to continue to use software from a group that clearly appears to have illegally appropriated intellectual property however you stated early on that you "abhor copyright theft" and that you are willing to pay for a MakeMKV license. While you work with PavTube to resolve your issue (and I wish you good luck with that), why not buy a MakeMKV license and start using MakeMKV? There are many on this forum who can help you transition to using MakeMKV. And by explaining what features you may specifically need, we can explain what MakeMKV can do to get you there or refer you to products that can accomplish what you need (as an example, I use Handbrake to shrink some BD content if needed).

Hope this helps. Y

[taylorwmj]

<rant>

This is all just baffling to me of how crazy this has gotten. Ever since AnyDVD had it's issues a couple months back, a whole bunch of newbs (and primarily non-American by the looks of it) hopped on board over here at MakeMKV and have demanded crazy things and started accusing Mike/MakeMKV of "hacking" or "breaking" their software. Most of the time it happens to be PavTube. It seems none of these foreign newbs get what's going on and are bloating up the forums for the rest of the established users.

Simply put, here's what's happening:

MakeMKV was stolen and given a "pretty interface" (but buggy as hell) and then sold as PavTube. PavTube did none of the work and simply stole the product. The underlying MakeMKV checks based upon your date when the current beta key expires. MakeMKV does not phone home for the key, as setting your date back will allow you to continue using the beta key. However, it appears PavTube was phoning home to check for the MakeMKV key that PavTube was supplying (either a beta key or purchased key) and would store that locally on the PC to ensure that the underlying MakeMKV w/in PavTube would work.

Earlier this month, the most recent version of the MakeMKV beta key expired without getting replaced immediately online. During this time a whole bunch of PavTube users (seriously, why are you using this garbage software anyways when MakeMKV does everything PavTube does?) started filling the MakeMKV forums complaining how "malicious damage caused by MakeMKV" is preventing them from using their precious PavTube. What a joke.

MakeMKV is doing nothing wrong. They're protecting what has always been theirs. They are not damaging your computer. They are not tracking your computer. The underlying MakeMKV software has been disabled because the key has expired or revoked. You're damaging your computer by letting some Chinese crap software on your computer that blatantly ripped-off someone else.

And no, buying a key of MakeMKV will not enable PavTube to work; then again, why would you do this anyways, knowing that you're using stolen software that really does nothing better than MakeMKV?

Solution:
1. Remove PavTube from your computer
2. Download and Install MakeMKV
3. Pay for the MakeMKV key.
4. Enjoy the wonderfully built, non-Chinese ripped off software that works great and stop suggesting stupid enhancements to transcode the files--use a different piece of software for this. After all, that portion of PavTube is most likely ripped-off too.

</rant>