Kodi programmers threaten takedown notices against retailers selling media boxes

The men and women behind the popular and free, open source software Kodi have had enough with the wave of sellers making a quick euro by flogging off the film streaming programme on Android TV boxes.

Retailers in Malta are charging users of the €130 box, and an extra €25 to update the box’s programmes – referred to as add-ons – on an annual basis, after the popular streaming add-on Genesis was discontinued.

Kodi does not provide the films that viewers are seeing: it is the add-ons like Genesis, or now Exodus, that enable the streaming of movie files sourced from all over the internet.

But Kodi is freely available for download on any computer operating system and the Kodi volunteers who run the non-profit XBMC foundation say that retailers are selling their programme and “dragging users into the world of piracy without their knowledge and at the same time convincing new users that Kodi is a buggy mess”.

“There are even more people out there seeking to make a quick buck by selling ads on videos about getting free movies and TV while using Kodi in their channel name to make their content seem official, as if those videos are coming from us.

“Team Kodi is officially tired of this. We are tired of new users coming into the forum, asking why the box that ‘we’ sold them was broken. We are tired of this endless campaign by dishonest salesmen to push a single use of Kodi that nobody on the team actually recommends,” Kodi announced on its blog.

“We are tired of these salesmen lying to users, claiming that pirate streams and pirate boxes are ‘legal’ when they are absolutely not at some level or other. We are tired of being told by companies that they don’t want to work with us, because we are selling pirate boxes.”

Now the software programmes say that they will use their trademark to issue takedown notices.

“If you are selling a box on your website designed to trick users into thinking broken add-ons come from us and work perfectly, so you can make a buck, we’re going to do everything we can to stop you…

“It is not OK to sell a fully loaded Kodi box…. We love making Kodi. We love working on a free, open source software that’s the best media centre on the planet… But every day our name gets dragged through the mud, we are in danger of losing developers and losing the freedom to make Kodi great.”

Glossary of terms

‘Android Box’ Originally, it was Google that developed the smart TV platform ‘Android TV’ in 2014, which gave access to the Google Play Store for Android apps, as well as media streaming services Netflix and Hulu. Now the term is used for similar smart TV boxes, such as the commonly found M8 box by Amlogic.

Kodi was formerly known as XBMC – Xbox Media Centre – and was developed as a media centre for the first Xbox version, but its developers issued the software as a free and open-source programme. It is this programme that is being installed inside the Android boxes, because it allows users to play and view most streaming media, such as videos, music, podcasts, and videos from the internet, as well as all common digital media files from local networks.

Add-ons Kodi features several open APIs (application programming interface) to enable third-party developers to create new streaming plugins. One of them is Genesis, and now Exodus, which allows users to search movies and TV programmes and stream them from all over the web in full HD or standard definition.