Kodi piracy threat as illegal add-ons battle rages on

[Len]

THE Kodi crackdown continues after add-on users were dealt a blow and a shock online piracy threat was made.

Kodi add-on users have been dealt a blow as the crackdown against online piracy rages on.

Kodi continues to surge in popularity, with research suggesting the software is being used in more than five million UK homes.

Kodi software is perfectly legal, but unaffiliated developers can produce third-party add-ons that provide free access to pirated and illegal content.

These apps allow users to stream premium content, like paid-for live sports, the latest Hollywood movies and must-see TV shows for free.

The illegal Kodi add-ons are being targeted by ISPs, government agencies, broadcasters and rights holders.

And as the crackdown continues a new threat has been made amid the battle against illegal Kodi add-ons.

Last year Sky TV in New Zealand, who are separate to the UK telecommunications giant, sued two sellers of Kodi-based streaming devices.

These devices were the makers of My Box and Fibre TV NZ, Kodi-based devices configured to receive copyrighted content, TorrentFreak reported.

Last November a church in Christchurch issued an interim injunction against FibeTV on the terms sought by Sky TV, with the broadcaster also awarded costs.

And now in an announcement today the paid-for TV provider has claimed victory against Fibre TV.

They said the Christchurch District Court had determined Fibre TV’s marketing had been misleading.

Judge MacAskill reportedly found it in breach of the Fair Trading Act for ads that promised “all of the content with none of the fees”.

Sky TV General Counsel Sophie Moloney said: “It is great to have this matter clarified, as we were concerned that New Zealanders were buying these boxes under the false impression that they were legitimate – it simply wasn’t true.

“Piracy is an ongoing problem for everyone in the content and creative sectors.

“Recent research shows that almost a third of New Zealanders are pirating, some as regularly as weekly, with one in ten saying it’s the way they ‘normally’ access content.”

A representative for Fibre TV reportedly told the Stuff website that it was still waiting on a court date and were not aware of Judge MacAskill’s ruling.

But they allegedly predicted when that happens Sky would not prevail.

And according to TorrentFreak, they added: “We intend to wipe the floor with Sky TV”.

In other news, Express.co.uk recently reported that research showed the popularity of Kodi had fallen as Netflix saw user gains.

The findings were made in the Intellectual Property Office’s (IPO) latest annual Online Copyright Infringement Tracker report.

The study found that Netflix has seen a huge jump in users in the past year.

The research noted a seven per cent jump in the number of people using the paid for services.

While Kodi is among the free services that the study said had seen a drop in users.

The research consulted 2,890 people based in the UK aged 12 or over who have consumed or shared content in the past three months.