Rights holders in Canada, including cablers Bell Canada, TVA, Videotron, and Rogers are stepping up the battle against illegal viewing and are now targeting Kodi add-on repository TVAddons.
In December 2016 the cable companies started legal proceedings against about 45 Canadian companies for selling ‘fully-loaded’ Android boxes, in an effort to try to stop the sale of these set-top boxes that promises “hundreds of TV channels and live sports free of charge”. Using Kodi add-ons such ad Exodus and 1Channel people can access broadcast and premium channels without paying any cable or subscription fees, just a broadband connection is needed.
Now, the companies are trying to sue TVAddons founder Adam Lackman, who saw his Montreal home raided on the grounds of a so-called Anton Piller order, a civil search warrant that gives a plaintiff access to a defendant’s home, without notice, to search for and seize relevant evidence before it can be destroyed.
A Federal Court judge would later declare the Anton Piller order in this case “unlawful,” but that was weeks after a group of men arrived at Lackman’s door at 8 a.m. on June 12. Lackman says the group included a bailiff, two computer technicians, an independent counsel and a lawyer representing Bell, Rogers and Videotron.
“The whole experience was horrifying,” told Adam Lackman CBC News. “It felt like the kind of thing you would have expected to have happened in the Soviet Union.”
TVAddons is a library of hundreds of apps known as add-ons. Once downloaded on the Android box or a computer with added software, some of the add-ons allow people easy access to pirated movies, TV shows and even live television. However, TVAdds also offers apps that are perfectly legal.
In Europe the selling of the pre-loaded Android boxes is already ruled illegal by the European Court of Justice.
The original TV Addons website can now be accessed here.
