Just recently, IWF1 has published an article that dissociates Kodi from piracy, following team Kodi’s clarification regarding the platform’s legal status.
Yet perhaps via a strange coincidence (or not), also published not long ago, a new article on the Daily Mail[1] (a popular British tabloid) claims that a new bill by the UK parliament rules: “Thousands of Kodi TV box users could face up to TEN YEARS in prison under controversial new law”
The article includes reference to a section of the bill which says: people who are “making, dealing with or using illicit recordings” may be found as having criminal liability under certain, broad circumstances.
Thereof such people are prone to face criminal charges which the bill proposes up to ten year sentence (according to the Daily Mail).
While there’s no particular mention for Kodi in the bill, it is nonetheless evident that some of Kodi’s 3rd-party addons may fit the bill’s ruling.
It is also mentioned that up until recent, temporary files, such as those created when media content is being streamed, were technically exempt under copyright law, yet a new ruling issued by the EU’s highest court aligns pirated streams with illegal downloads.
Hence, not only Kodi users may find themselves susceptible to the effects of the new law, but also the general Internet community in the country.
It should be stressed however that the IPO (Intellectual Property Office), the body responsible for intellectual property rights in the UK, noted that the criminal offences apply to those who make material available to others and is unlikely to affect those who simply download material to their computers.
“It is important to note that the criminal offences apply to making material available to others, not to those just downloading material to their computers. Anyone seeking to enforce their rights for the downloading of material would be unlikely to refer to this legislation.”
They then go on to say that ten year sentences are highly unlikely to affect small, unintentional infringements caught by their office, rather they would only be applied in the most serious of criminal circumstances.
“Ten year sentences would only be applied in the most serious of criminal circumstances. It is highly unlikely that small, unintentional infringement would be caught by this offence.”
