Irdeto Takes Down Legitimate Showmax Kodi Add-On
- Denuvo Owner Irdeto has taken down a third-party Showmax Kodi addon that is completely legitimate.
- The add-on was developed by an independent developer based in New Zealand and is not linked to any piracy activity.
- The developer has chosen not to contest the ban as it would not be feasible financially.
Kodi has always been a controversial platform with a number of third-party add-ons being brought to negative attention due to their link with piracy. DRM creator Denuvo’s owner Irdeto seems to be less than happy about a completely legitimate add-on that offers access to Showmax content.
Showmax is an online video subscription platform based in South Africa and is a local competitor in the country to the likes of Amazon and Netflix. With many media companies not offering official Kodi add-ons, third-party developers end up creating alternative solutions for the community. The Showmax add-on is completely legitimate and offers access to content from the service provider only if users have valid subscriptions. However, Irdeto seems to disagree with such practices and has called out the add-on as “copyright infringing.”
Just like Showmax, the Crunchyroll add-on was dragged into controversy as well recently with the anime distributor blocking access for Kodi users even if they had legitimate subscriptions. The Showmax add-on was developed independently by Matt Huisman, a coder from New Zealand.
The Kodi add-on has been taken down by Irdeto on behalf of Showmax with the following explanation, “Showmax is an online subscription video on demand service. The identified content provides an interface for these Applications to be used via the ‘KODI’ Application, which is not authorized by Naspers.”
There are no rigid rules against API copyrighting and despite the Kodi add-on not being involved in offering access to Showmax content illegally, it got removed by Irdeto. While on paper Huisman could contest the takedown but the developer does not want to be involved in a lengthy legal battle. He also stated that he does not use the add-on himself developed it only because many Showmax users had requested the add-on. If such add-ons get removed over time, and official add-ons do not replace them, Kodi may lose its value as a media platform.
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