These are bad times for Kodi, not only because it is losing users at a fast rate, but it has also said goodbye to one of its great repositories such as TVAddons after a legal settlement of almost 20 million dollars for its creator Adam Lackman, who already defines himself as “ex-pir-te”
TVAddons worked as a repository that distributed multiple addons or streaming apps on Kodi media player. Users would have access to copyrighted content owned by the companies that sued TVAddons when they downloaded the app.
A legal battle that began in June 2017
This closure comes as a result of the sentencing of the creator of TVAddons, Adam Lackman, who has pleaded guilty to charges of pir-cy, agreeing with the courts to a fine amounting to 25 million Canadian dollars (17.8 million euros) for copyright infringement.
The ruling of the Federal Court of Canada, which arrived on February 18, ends a legal battle that began in June 2017 when companies such as the operators Bell and Rogers or the audiovisual companies Videotron and Groupe TVA filed a rights complaint of author against Lackman. The complaint said that TVAddons was providing copyrighted content.
The lawsuit is now officially over and I can move on with my life. It wasn’t the outcome I had hoped for, but an outcome nonetheless.
I won’t be making further statements on the matter, as I wish to I look towards the future rather than dwell upon the past.
— Adam Lackman • אדם לקמן (@adam_lackman) February 23, 2022
Lackman has acknowledged that he “was directly or indirectly involved in the promotion, hosting, development, or distribution of add-ons for Kodi that allow users to access copyrighted content without permission.”
The agreement also includes the transfer to the Canadian operators that have just won the case the control of most of the data and properties of TVAddons, including domains , servers, accounts and login information. In this way, it seems to make it difficult for the platform to work again, even if it is through other domains (as happened in 2017 after the first complaint from the US operator DISH Network) or new owners.
Kodi is a legal player
For those who do not know Kodi in detail, the player is and remains legal, since by default it does not include add-ons or content that infringes copyright. It is a free and open source multimedia center that, in addition to these pirte uses, is also used legally by thousands of users throughout the planet.
Kodi Media Center
Among its uses, for example, is that of official add-ons used to play IPTV lists. Once again, it is the content that can cross copyright boundaries, not the tool itself.
TVAddons, for example, broadcast or provided the means to broadcast copyright-protected content such as series such as Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory and Prison Break, the reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians or the talent show America’s Got Talent.