Kodi box addon ban ordered by courts as crackdown continues

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), an anti-piracy taskforce formed by the likes of Amazon, Netflix and a number of leading Hollywood studios, has won a preliminary injunction against TickBox TV – a Kodi set-top box that’s manufactured and distributed in the United States.

TickBox TV ships with a set of detailed instructions that guide customers through the straightforward process of installing illicit addons that enable them to stream premium content – like movies, TV shows and sporting events – for free, according to the case presented to US District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald by ACE earlier this week.

Fitzgerald ruled that TickBox must refrain from providing customers with information that can help them access copyrighted content. The firm agreed to the Judge’s request, but not before arguing that the decision could harm its business. Fitzgerald dismissed the claim, stating that customers can still use the unit for legitimate purposes.

On the other side of the pond, John Whittingdale, the United Kingdom’s former Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, recently called for a clampdown on similar Kodi set-top boxes. He claimed that illegal streaming is tantamount to theft and is doing a huge amount of financial damage to broadcasts and content creators alike.

It’s rare for an offending set-top box manufacturer to be held accountable. The most popular ‘fully-loaded’ options, which come preloaded with the aforementioned streaming addons, are manufactured by unregistered Chinese companies, making the task of hunting them down and bringing them to justice in a court of law near impossible.