BREIN cracks down on Kodi

Dutch anti-piracy agency BREIN is cracking down on the sellers of infringing media players, as well as Kodi add-on developers, following a ruling from the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on that outlawed pirate builds.
BREIN has stopped 154 sellers of illegal media players since the CJEU’s decision in BREIN v German multimedia player distributer Filmspeler.

The CJEU ruled in April that any media player marketed and sold with pre-installed software allowing access to pirated content infringes the copyright owner’s distribution to the public right.

One provider that BREIN targeted is now liable for €10,000 after the anti-piracy agency obtained an ex-parte court order.

BREIN also targeted IPTV add-on developers and has settled with 10 people.

The settlements involve a withdrawal declaration, the removal of all uploads with a penalty payment and compensation for costs and damage. Settlements will “take into account the personal circumstances of the breach”. They can cost developers anywhere from €250 to €7,500.

Developers of IPTV add-ons have become targets since the CJEU’s ruling. Earlier this year, Zem TV and TVAddons, distributors for Kodi IPTV player add-ons, were sued for copyright infringement.

In May, TVAddons abandoned its own Navi-X add-on due to “the current legal climate surrounding Kodi”.

Several other Kodi add-on developers have already shut down their operations in light of the CJEU’s decision.