Online piracy device heightens anxiety in Hollywood and Silicon Valley

[Len]

Piracy has long been a scourge of Hollywood, but the emerging technology has heightened anxieties about the industry's vulnerability to copyright theft.

TickBox represents a new and growing type of copyright theft that uses streaming devices and apps to make piracy as easy and normal-seeming as watching movies through Apple TV or Roku.

The devices, which are listed at about US$150, come with instructions to load software "add-ons" created by third-party developers that allow users to stream video from the web free.

TickBox TV is owned by Jeffrey and Carrla Goldstein. A lawsuit accuses their company of being one of the most prominent and fastest-growing facilitators of online piracy. TickBox TV sells set-top boxes that promise free streaming of movies and television shows.

The couple and their startup have drawn the attention of major Hollywood studios and their streaming rivals. Eight entertainment companies - Universal, Columbia, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Warner Bros, Amazon and Netflix - joined to sue TickBox for copyright infringement last month, asking the court to shut the company down.

TickBox TV's promise of free content is an attractive draw, luring half a million visitors a month, according to the complaint.

The suit is the first legal action by Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, a newly formed coalition of international studios, television networks and online video giants that have joined forces to combat piracy globally. For damages, they are seeking all of TickBox's profits and up to US$150,000 per infringed work.

Neither the company nor the Goldsteins responded to requests for comment. They have not yet filed a response to the lawsuit.

TickBox relies on software called Kodi, an open-source media player that developers can modify with apps for watching films and TV. Kodi technology itself, which is maintained by software engineers who work voluntarily, is legal and has legitimate uses, experts said. Some people use it as a convenient way to access content from licensed sources.

But the technology also makes it vastly easier for consumers to watch stolen movies, TV shows and sports. A TickBox device, which connects to a TV, directs people to load software add-ons that allow users to search for movies and television programs online and watch them without paying. The add-ons scrape video content from websites to stream video, including live TV and sports, from the internet without authorisation.

Kodi-based piracy is a growing threat. Worldwide, experts estimate, up to 30 million people have used add-ons to watch unlicensed content.

Pre-loaded boxes are easily found on sites including EBay and Facebook's marketplace, for as little as US$40 each, mostly sold by individual small-timers working out of their homes and marketing their devices as "fully loaded" or "jail-broken". Bigger sites sell them for more than US$200.

Because it is less cumbersome than traditional pirate sites such as the Pirate Bay, set-top box piracy also tends to attract older users and families, intellectual property experts said. It even looks more legitimate than typical infringing sites, with a user interface that resembles Netflix or Hulu.

The suit against TickBox is part of a wider crackdown on Kodi-powered piracy by the studios and streaming services. Software developers recently shut down multiple sites that provided illegal add-ons after receiving a letter from the anti-piracy group representing the studios and streamers.

Last year, a man in Britain named Terry O'Reilly was sentenced to four years in prison for selling set-top boxes modified for copyright theft.

Users can "plug the TickBox TV into your current television and enjoy unlimited access to all the hottest TV shows, Hollywood blockbusters and live sporting events in one convenient little device ... absolutely free," the company's website said, according to the complaint. "TickBox TV searches the internet where it will locate and stream virtually any television show, Hollywood movie or live sports event you want to watch ... without you having to worry about paying rental fees or monthly subscriptions."

Customers can use remote controls or keypads to search for movie titles by name. A search for 20th Century Fox's movie War for the Planet of the Apes found 44 results for the big-budget film on various sites in September, when the film was not available for legal home viewing, the studios' lawyers wrote. The user then picks which version to watch.

TickBox has recently toned down some of the marketing language on its website that advertises free access to content. Instead, the website now emphasises its user friendliness and versatility.

The bottom of the site now includes a disclaimer: "TickBox TV should not be utilised to download or stream any copyrighted content without permission from the copyright holder."