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Brian Thompson, a Middlesbrough trader, has been prosecuted for selling set-top boxes running Android that come pre-installed with the Kodi/XBMC open source media centre software.
A Middlesbrough trader is set to make legal history as the first person to be prosecuted for selling Android boxes. Following an 18-month investigation, Brian Thompson has been told Middlesbrough Council is taking him to court in what could prove a landmark case.
The council claims the boxes are illegal, but Brian said: "I am pleading not guilty and I'm going to fight this."
The kit - also known as a 'Kodi box' - allows viewers to watch copyright material like Premier League football and Hollywood movies for free. As such there are major question marks over both their legality, and exactly just what people can safely watch.
What seems to be at issue here is that some traders, perhaps Thompson, were selling these set-top boxes preloaded with third-party Kodi add-ons that permit access to media in violation of copyright law. More coverage at the BBC.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday September 28 2016, @02:06AM
Yeah, you don't live in the US do you? ;) Anything can be a crime, and everybody is guilty of something. With intellectual property being what it is here, that guy could have been picked up by the FBI. All it takes is a phone call from a major corp and the FBI turns into paid enforcers.
I've lived in the US my whole life. As for "Anything can be a crime," that's nothing new or unique to the US. Another Soylentil's sig (his username is eluding me at the moment) is instructive:
If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged
--Often attributed to Cardinal Richelieu or to Voltaire
And while we like to think that what you're saying is true, unless this guy was selling pirate cable/satellite boxes (which is a crime -- fraud and conspiracy in theft of services, I believe), there's no reason for law enforcement to get involved. The most likely scenario in the US would be something like the Napster case. As I said, there would be massive lawsuits filed, because that's the American way (the Sherry Bobbins bit wasn't really related, I just like it.
The difference between US and British law is the television licence [wikipedia.org] regime.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr