Pre-loaded Kodi boxes face UK legal challenge

[Dos_Box]

This should be interesting. A trader in Middlesbrough is in court charged with selling devices that 'facilitated the circumvention' of copyright protection measures.

More from the Beeb here: Sale of Kodi 'fully-loaded' streaming boxes faces legal test - BBC News

[abillybob]

I think it's good. A bunch of developers get together and create Kodi as an open source free platform which allows add-ons and the user to do what they want. But then you have people come along and just exploit this and make money off someone else's hard work. The people that then made Kodi will get a bad reputation for piracy as a result of these people and it's just not fair.

 

I hate people that use these "fully loaded" boxes, they tend to be very poorly designed anyway. I just hope it doesn't get to the point that Kodi stop support for add-ons altogether to save their brand!

[bald_pig]

I can't see them getting far at all with this case, the boxes themselves don't facilitate the circumvention themselves, they're just capable of receiving video streams, regardless of legality, just like you phone, computer, smart tv etc.

[FN-GM]

Meanwhile someone breaks into a shed on our street and they are still waiting for the police to come 3 weeks later...

[jaminben]

I can't see them getting far at all with this case, the boxes themselves don't facilitate the circumvention themselves, they're just capable of receiving video streams, regardless of legality, just like you phone, computer, smart tv etc.

 

Indeed, where do you draw the line... ban the sale of crowbars because they allow access to most properties?

[Arthur]

Kodi had an article on their blog about these boxes earlier this year...

 

The piracy box sellers and YouTube promoters are killing Kodi

 

The problem is this: There have been a wave of sellers who decided to make a quick buck modifying Kodi, installing broken piracy add-ons, advertising that Kodi let’s you watch free movies and TV, and then vanishing when the user buys the box and finds out that the add-on they were sold on was a crummy, constantly breaking mess. These sellers are dragging users into the world of piracy without their knowledge and at the same time convincing new users that Kodi is a buggy mess, because they never differentiate Kodi from 3rd party add-ons. Every day a new user shows up on the Kodi forum, totally unaware that the free movies they’re watching have been pirated and surprised to discover that Kodi itself isn’t providing those movies.

 

The Solution

Our solution to this problem is pretty straightforward. We now own the trademark to Kodi, and we plan to use it to finally battle the mass confusion created by those seeking to profit on unaware users.

 

This means we will issue trademark takedown notices anywhere we think the likelihood for confusion is high. If you are selling a box on your website designed to trick users into thinking broken add-ons come from us and work perfectly, so you can make a buck, we’re going to do everything we can to stop you. If you are making a video in which you claim to be a Kodi developer or Kodi team member or you are just using the Kodi name while assuring users that some pirate add-on is totally legal and isn’t going to break next week, we will do everything we can to take you down.

[2ilent8cho]

I can't see them getting far at all with this case, the boxes themselves don't facilitate the circumvention themselves, they're just capable of receiving video streams, regardless of legality, just like you phone, computer, smart tv etc.

 

Unfortunately Judges often don't understand technology at all and make judgments based on their bad understanding

[synaesthesia]

I sort of agree with it. The advertisement of these fully loaded boxes is nasty, and they are indeed selling the means to circumvent copy protection, promote piracy etc. There is absolutely no doubting that. They are making that level of piracy commonplace, and the selling sites & facebook pages round here are chock full of examples of people flogging these devices.

I don't have issue with what the devices do, how they do it, and certainly not Kodi. I have a fireTV stick loaded with Kodi as well as a quad core android boxy thing similarly loaded. They'll turn any TV into a smart TV and don't get in the way. And yes, both of them are loaded with the various plugins available to view "questionable" content minus the subscriptions. They were not purchased for that purpose, I did not pay money to watch the shows on them. I will however not sell them on for more than the cost of the device itself; that absolutely comes under profiting from piracy in my opinion.

As has been said, it would neither be feasible or entirely possible to block/stop/limit the tools being used, but I believe making the sale of such goods illegal should be done.

The above article also makes Kodi's standpoint clear - don't confuse the pirates with us, and that's fair enough. The problem are the people selling the devices, partly due to the copyright, partly due to them saying it's Kodi.

Edited September 27, 2016 by synaesthesia

[zebulunn]

What I find amusing is that Amazon still lets people sell this junk on their platform and 'bans' Chromecast as it competes with their own stick and services.

 

These boxes are not much different situation from dodgy Cable/Sky receivers, so something needs to change.

[Dos_Box]

The BBC reported this yesterday: Piracy fighters battle Kodi 'epidemic' - BBC News

Although it does seem to be a vox pop piece on behalf of FACT.