‘Former pirate’ hit with $19.5 million fine for piracy

Kodi

Adam Lackman, the self-proclaimed former pirate behind the Kodi add-on repository TVAddons, has agreed to pay $19.5 million to a group of Canadian telecom giants.

TVAddons was still accessible until last week, but went offline for good. TVAddons was once a site that allowed users to add add-ons to the open-source media library for use on streaming devices like the Amazon Fire TV Stick. Third-party apps, like TVAddons, can direct people to illegal content.

The judgment states that the Montreal-based Lackman participated in the development, hosting, distribution and promotion of add-ons that provide users with unauthorized access.

Bell Canada, TVA, Videotron, and Rogers filed a lawsuit against Lackman in the summer of 2017, which included a raid of Lackman's home. Lackman was sued in the US by a satellite television provider. He reached a settlement with the company in which TVAddons had to prioritize Dish's copyright complaints.

The lawsuit is now officially over and I can move on with my life. It wasn't the outcome I had hoped for, but an outcome nonetheless.



I won't be making further statements on the matter, as I wish to I look towards the future rather than dwell upon the past.

— Adam Lackman • אדם לקמן (@adam_lackman) February 23, 2022

The lawsuit is over and I can move on with my life.

TVAddons had a solid fan base at one point, with 40 million active users per month, but many took issue with some of its practices. As Kinkead Tech points out, TVAddons would sometimes auto- install the Indigo add-on, which apparently blocked the use of certain other add-ons and repositories, as well as launched an ad for a VPN service when opening Kodi. The lawsuit also addresses Lackman's participation in the development, operation, maintenance, updating, hosting, distribution or promotion orinfringing add-ons.

In an interview with Vice, Lackman stated that he wanted TVAddons to be a hub for legal content, and that it was supposed to contain apps that were free but legal. Lackman told Vice he didn't really police the add-ons that were uploaded on his site, which led to piracy.

Over the years, apps that house illegal content like TVAddons have given a reputation for piracy, with a lot of people I know wrongly believing the software is illegal. According to data compiled by Comparitech, searches for the word "Kodi" are on the decline. While legal pressure continues to mount, the pirates have found a new vessel to sail through, and it's a descendant of the Xbox Media Center.