Is Kodi being sued? No. Despite all of the headlines to the contrary Kodi, the program developed by a group known as the XBMC Foundation is not the subject of a lawsuit at all. The reason that a number of shamefully uninformed writers and even worse click bait artist on YouTube, are saying that Kodi is being sued is that Dish Network has targeted the organization known as TV Addons as well as the specific third party program known as Zem TV.
Kodi is not shutting down, kodi is not in turmoil none of those sensationalistic headlines is telling the story for what it is. What is happening is that Dish Network is pointing its gaze at developers who circumvent copyrights and distribution rights. In a related issue, there has been a lot of talk surrounding Android Powered TV Boxes.
What is TV Addons
TV Addons is a group of developers who designed numerous add-ons that have been popular with Kodi users because they provided access to content that would otherwise cost money in the form of cable subscriptions or in some cases as little as a few dollars for a Redbox rental. TV Addons regularly advertised their services as legal and safe through emails. Here is an example of their “marketing from an email sent out to promote one of their apps.
“FreeTelly might be comparable to Popcorn Time, however it is much safer
to use. FreeTelly only accessses content readily available online,
whereas torrent based apps like Popcorn Time involve users in the
distribution of content, which could land you in legal trouble.
This earlier message was sent to select web publishers encouraging them to promote TV Addons as a legitimate and legal source for content.
“We already have millions of users and are getting more and more by the day.
If you take just a few minutes time, you’ll see why TVMC and XBMC will
change your life. You’ll never see online entertainment the same again, and
it’s totally legal, unlike torrents your system isn’t used to share
anything with anyone else.”
Dish Network Doesn’t See It That Way
Dish Network, which has distribution rights for international channels through multiple promotions took exception to an addon that had been promoted by TV Addons called Zem. Zem pulled content from international TV channels and distributed them for free. TV Addons promoted the addon though emails, promotional articles and visual promotions which featured the Zem addon all over its now disabled site.
View a PDF of the actual complaint here
