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Kodi streaming ruled illegal

by on28 April 2017


European court ruling


The Court of Justice of the European Union has delivered a blow to those who like using Kodi for streaming.

The court ruled that the temporary reproduction of copyright-protected work – without the consent of the rights holder – cannot be considered as exempt from "right of reproduction".

The EU court has ruled that piracy-friendly boxes do not meet the requirements for any exemption since their temporary transmissions hurt the copyright holder.

Instead, those who stream content without the consent of the copyright holder are breaking the law – just as those who download the files.

The ruling states: "The Court also finds that temporary acts of reproduction, on that multimedia player, of a copyright protected work obtained by streaming on a website belonging to a third party offering that work without the consent of the copyright holder, cannot be exempted from the right of reproduction."

It adds: "Furthermore, acts of temporary reproduction, on the multimedia player in question, of copyright-protected works adversely affects the normal exploitation of those works and causes unreasonable prejudice to the legitimate interests of the copyright holders because it usually results in a diminution of the lawful transactions relating to those protected works."

Kodi is still completely legal, but using it to stream is not if you do not have the copyright owner’s permission. Third-party Kodi add-ons often share content uploaded, shared or streamed from other users across the globe.

Set-top boxes, pre-loaded with software designed to facilitate online piracy,  have recently been outlawed by Amazon and eBay.

Last September, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) branded the use of Kodi software to tune into pirated streams as an "epidemic".

The foundation behind Kodi, which was previously known as XBMC, recently revealed plans to tackle the piracy including some form of DRM. The thought is that enabling DRM on Kodi could encourage providers to bring their content to the Kodi platform without fear that it could be pirated.

Last modified on 28 April 2017
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