Team Illuminati Shuts Down Its Kodi Repository Following Legal Pressure
- The ACE sent legal threats to Kodi addon repository Illuminati forcing the repository to be shut down.
- The repository is one of the most popular repositories on the Kodi platform with thousands of active users.
- It has been actively going after popular Kodi repositories with the media industry’s backing behind it.
Team Illuminati, the developers behind the popular Illuminati Kodi repository, revealed that they would have to stop development of the project going forward and the repository will be shut down. The decision was taken after the team received legal pressure from the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), which is an anti-piracy coalition formed by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry including Netflix, BBC, Amazon, Hollywood studios and many others. The repository has already been taken down.
With the massive legal power behind ACE, it is difficult for small organizations like Team Illuminati to face a lawsuit in court. Kodi as a platform is completely legal, but the existence of add-ons that allow users access to pirated movies, TV shows and even live streams of various events brings the legitimacy of the platform to question very often. Add-on developers like Team Illuminati usually do not defend lawsuits in court as the software created by them is illegal and facing some of the biggest names in the media industry is just not possible with massive legal fees involved. Instead, both parties come to a legal understanding, and the cases are settled out of court.
Team Illuminati had a large following, but the decision to openly post about the illegal content available on the repository definitely was a reason behind catching ACE’s attention. Team Illuminati wrote “Sorry guys our entire team got hit with ACE letters today, so we're leaving Twitter, this group closes tomorrow am thanks for your support all” and shut down the repository permanently.
Other repositories that have been taken down this month by ACE include Blamo and UrbanKingz. It is likely that the repository will not resurface as legal agreements often restrict the developers from being involved in similar projects in the future.
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