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posted by LaminatorX on Saturday August 02 2014, @01:25PM   Printer-friendly
from the Kodiak-Arrest dept.

Since 2002, the popular media center software known as XBMC has gone through three namings. First, it was called Xbox Media Player. Upon realizing that it did a bit more than your traditional media player, in 2004 the development team elected to rename it Xbox Media Center. A mere 4 years later in 2008, the team once again elected to rename the software to simply XBMC, given that it had moved on from its original roots on the Xbox. Support for the Xbox was dropped shortly thereafter. Today it's all happening one last time, along with a new release announcement.

Beyond the nonsensical nature of the software's name, there is a secondary issue. Because "XBMC" was originally based on the name "Xbox," the developers of the software (that's us) have never had any sort of legal control over the use of its name, which has resulted in a whole slew of problems.

Related Stories

MPAA Chief Focuses Attention on the Kodi Platform 44 comments

In an interview with Variety, the Motion Picture Association of America's CEO Chris Dodd spoke out about the growing popularity of Kodi open source media player:

While torrent sites have been a thorn in the side of the MPAA for more than a decade, there's a new kid on the block. Speaking at the Berlin Film Festival, MPAA chief Chris Dodd cited the growing use of the Kodi platform for piracy, describing the problem as the "$64,000 question."

[...] Legal battles over the misuse of the platform are ongoing, mainly in the UK and the Netherlands, where test cases have the ability to clarify the legal position, at least for sellers of so-called "fully loaded" devices. Interestingly, up until now, the MPAA has stayed almost completely quiet, despite a dramatic rise in the use of Kodi for illicit streaming. Yesterday, however, the silence was broken.

In an interview with Variety during the Berlin Film Festival, MPAA chief Chris Dodd described the Kodi-with-addons situation as "new-generation piracy". "The $64,000 question is what can be done about such illegal use of the Kodi platform," Dodd said.

While $64,000 is a tempting offer, responding to that particular question with a working solution will take much more than that. Indeed, one might argue that dealing with it in any meaningful way will be almost impossible.

First of all, Kodi is open source and has been since its inception in 2002. As a result, trying to target the software itself would be like stuffing toothpaste back in a tube. It's out there, it isn't coming back, and pissing off countless developers is extremely ill-advised. Secondly, the people behind Kodi have done absolutely nothing wrong. Their software is entirely legal and if their public statements are to be believed, they're as sick of piracy as the entertainment companies are. The third problem is how Kodi itself works. While to the uninitiated it looks like one platform, a fully-modded 'pirate' Kodi setup can contain many third-party addons, each capable of aggregating content from dozens or even hundreds of sites. Not even the mighty MPAA can shut them all down, and even if it could, more would reappear later. It's the ultimate game of whac-a-mole.

Previously: XBMC Is Getting a New Name: "Kodi"
Middlesbrough Trader Prosecuted for Selling Streaming Boxes Preloaded With Kodi
Five Arrests in 'Fully Loaded' Kodi Streaming Box Raids

[Ed Note: This is the same Chris Dodd who served 30 years as a US Senator from Connecticut. Probably best known for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.]


Original Submission

Kodi Returns to its Roots With an Xbox One Release 1 comment

The Kodi media player has re-entered the Xbox ecosystem. But can it be "fully loaded"?

The popular Kodi media player software returned to its roots today. The team just announced that Kodi for Xbox One is available worldwide through the Microsoft and Xbox store. This means that the project, which once started as the Xbox Media Player, has come full circle. [...] The roots of Kodi are directly connected to the Xbox, as the first iterations of the project were called the "Xbox Media Player." As time went by XBMP became XBMC, and eventually Kodi. The last name change made sense as the software was no longer being developed for Xbox, but for other devices, running on Linux, Windows, OSX, and Android.

While the broader public was perfectly happy with this, the sentimental few were missing the Xbox connection. For them, and many others, Kodi has a surprise in store today after returning to its roots. "Let us end the year 2017 with a blast including a nostalgic reference to the past," the Kodi team announced. "It has long been asked for by so many and now it finally happened. Kodi for Xbox One is available worldwide through Windows and Xbox Store."

Also at Engadget.

See also: Our 'Kodi Box' Is Legal & Our Users Don't Break the Law, TickBox Tells Hollywood

Previously: XBMC Is Getting a New Name: "Kodi"
Five Arrests in 'Fully Loaded' Kodi Streaming Box Raids
MPAA Chief Focuses Attention on the Kodi Platform
Kodi Panic in the UK and Popularity in North America
Kodi Add-on Library "TVAddons" Disappears After Lawsuit
Hollywood Strikes Back Against Illegal Streaming Kodi Add-Ons


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 02 2014, @01:36PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Saturday August 02 2014, @01:36PM (#76705) Homepage Journal

    Actually using the word XBox might have been a trademark violation but XBMC should have been good to go. Kodi would not have been my first choice in any event though.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Jaruzel on Saturday August 02 2014, @02:14PM

    by Jaruzel (812) on Saturday August 02 2014, @02:14PM (#76710) Homepage Journal

    The new name 'Kodi' makes sense if you view it as a consumer brand. the XMBC foundation has been licensing XBMC onto black boxes for a few years now, but with a more distinct name it will stand up as a peer against 'Roku' and other established brands.

    Expect to see ~$100 small-footprint Kodi boxes in your local AV store/asle in the near future, I reckon.

    -Jar
    (Long term original Xbox XBMC user, and now running several Pi based RaspBMC boxes)

    --
    This is my opinion, there are many others, but this one is mine.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by boris on Saturday August 02 2014, @07:53PM

      by boris (1706) on Saturday August 02 2014, @07:53PM (#76761)

      Feels like the end of an era, but I cannot blame them for wanting to protect it and make money out of it. They've been so good to me over the years and I wish the foundation continued success. I throw a donation there way every now and again. Hopefully they keep their core values for those of us who prefer to build their own HTPC's out of it.

    • (Score: 1) by chewbacon on Saturday August 02 2014, @08:45PM

      by chewbacon (1032) on Saturday August 02 2014, @08:45PM (#76767)

      But I like the $40-50 raspi option...

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by evilviper on Saturday August 02 2014, @02:27PM

    by evilviper (1760) on Saturday August 02 2014, @02:27PM (#76716) Homepage Journal

    Because "XBMC" was originally based on the name "Xbox," the developers of the software (that's us) have never had any sort of legal control over the use of its name, which has resulted in a whole slew of problems.

    "XBMC" should be fully trademarkable, which is common enough, and since the software isn't remotely related to the Xbox, I don't see how there could be any issue at all. You could put in the application that it stands for eXtreme owel ovement Companion. Problem solved.

    And changing the name to something nobody has ever heard of before, will do nothing to resolve the problem... You release "Kodi 2.0" and some dev in China changes all references from Kodi to XBMC, flashes it into the firmware of his company's DVR, and then sells it with "XBMC" on the feature list... You'll have an even harder time fighting that, when you've stopped using the name everybody knows.

    --
    Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 02 2014, @03:42PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 02 2014, @03:42PM (#76735)

      Extreme Owls?

    • (Score: 1) by tnt118 on Saturday August 02 2014, @04:22PM

      by tnt118 (3925) on Saturday August 02 2014, @04:22PM (#76740)

      Honest question...

      You can SAY it means anything you want, but there's clearly evidence in the historical record that the original meaning was "xbox," right? And wouldn't that still be a potential problem?

      --
      I think I like it here.
      • (Score: 2) by evilviper on Saturday August 02 2014, @05:53PM

        by evilviper (1760) on Saturday August 02 2014, @05:53PM (#76748) Homepage Journal

        there's clearly evidence in the historical record that the original meaning was "xbox," right? And wouldn't that still be a potential problem?

        You don't get a trademark on the "historical record". You get a trademark on a (reasonably) unique term.

        I can walk into any store, and buy a "red hat". Yet RHEL is trademarked.

        --
        Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 03 2014, @03:58AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 03 2014, @03:58AM (#76834)

          > You don't get a trademark on the "historical record". You get a trademark on a (reasonably) unique term.

          You kind of do. If the term has a history of use before you tried to register it, you can be denied registration or lose it in court if someone tries to invalidate it based on historical usage.

          > I can walk into any store, and buy a "red hat". Yet RHEL is trademarked.

          That's two different markets - clothing and computing. Like the way Apple used to be two trademarks - one for computers and one for music, the latter owned by Apple Records, the Beatles' music label. It is doubtful that a company could trademark literal red hats.

          • (Score: 2) by cykros on Sunday August 03 2014, @11:57PM

            by cykros (989) on Sunday August 03 2014, @11:57PM (#77023)

            Or like how Apple has iOS and Cisco has IOS. Though this one I feel Apple really should be slapped around for a wee bit, just because of the amount of confusion it's led to for me personally in conversations with people.

    • (Score: 1) by Mainframe Bloke on Sunday August 03 2014, @01:51AM

      by Mainframe Bloke (1665) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 03 2014, @01:51AM (#76823) Journal

      Totally agreed. And the new version is available on xmbc.org, to muddy the waters even further. No response from kodi.org.

      Been ages since I used XMBC, probably time for another look. Well done to keep going for so long.