The operator of TVAddons Kodi repository Adam Lackman has agreed to pay $19.5 million in damages.
TVAddons was arguably the most popular Kodi repository for several years that held hundreds of Kodi addons.
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As first reported by TorrentFreak, starting in June of 2017, major Canadian telecom companies including TVA, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, and others filed a complaint against Adam Lackman pertaining to copyright damages.
DISH Network also filed a separate lawsuit against Lackman and TVAddons within the United States for copyright infringement.
Lackman is the main operator behind the TVAddons Kodi repository and the plaintiff’s case against Lackman claims he illegally distributed TV shows and other works protected by copyright.
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This lawsuit against Lackman was very controversial, as Lackman was unable to obtain a defense and the Federal Court restrained him from several activities related to TVAddons.
An “Anton Piller order” was also granted to the plaintiffs, which is a civil search warrant that gave plaintiffs access to Lackman’s house without prior notice.
After these legal incidents with both the Canadian telecom giants and DISH Network, it appeared the TVAddons Kodi repository was gone for good.
However, TVAddons appeared to make a comeback in 2019 under a new domain, but it shortly disappeared along with its Github page and social media accounts.
Now in February 2022, TVAddons is back in the news again after Adam Lackman admitted to unlawfully distributing TV shows owned by the plaintiffs.
In more specific terms, Lackman participated in the “development, hosting, distribution or promotion of Kodi add-ons that provide users with unauthorized access” to the copyrighted works.
Lackman then further admitted that he authorized users of the infringing add-ons to “initiate acts of infringement to communicate the Plaintiff’s programs to the public by telecommunication.”
In simpler terms, he admitted to unlawfully “develop, host, distribute, or promote” Kodi add-ons that broadcasted these copyrighted works illegally.
The Federal Court in Canada then ordered Adam Lackman to pay the plaintiffs in the amount of $19.5 million USD ($25 million Canadian dollars) for copyright damages.
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Justice Rochester wrote the following:
“THIS COURT ORDERS the Defendant Mr. Lackman to pay the Plaintiffs the amount of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) in the form of a lump sum for damages, profits, punitive and exemplary damages, and costs.”
The plaintiffs are also gaining control of all “login credentials, accounts, domains, and servers” in order to conclude this multi-year ordeal with TVAddons.
Adam Lackman even commented on the situation through a social media post:
The lawsuit is now officially over and I can move on with my life. It wasn't the outcome I had hoped for, but an outcome nonetheless.
I won't be making further statements on the matter, as I wish to I look towards the future rather than dwell upon the past.
— Adam Lackman • ??? ???? (@adam_lackman) February 23, 2022
There is no doubt that TVAddons is officially dead, with Lackman not able to do anything similar in the future.
The TVAddons repository is now offline and their original website (tvaddons.co) is also offline.
You can view the official court judgment documentation below.
TVAddons & Adam Lackman Court Judgment (PDF)
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I so agree with corporate telling us to watch commercials where they charge those guys and us same time and puts on this crap on our stuff we pay for and they gave control of our stuff and we have to be computer geeks to try and stop this on our devices it’s sick that we pay for our stuff, our equipment and they have control of our stuff so they steal from us and the advertisers same time and the advertisers get there money back either way so all in all there corporate guys all get rich who,e we get poorer and poorer from there ongoing charges ,it never fails even I remember the days when it was nearly $0 bucks to watch tv and we bought the tv and now it’s this garbage today where all governments also help them get rich and give them control of our machines ,unbelievable when even all politicians take handouts continuously from this so they bend the rules all the time for the greedy corporate and themselfs, how and when did the world get evil and the everything from the average person and here we are missing more and more each week goes bye and the little guy seems to pay for all of them as we now starve and so much more and when someone says we are dumb when we complain about facts it’s because they have it to without realising they have everything back as they are one if them at the end of the day,we loose out rights constantly and can’t do much about it because of the non stop corporate greed that those all involved from goverments politicians to cooperate it goes around in non stop cash for them and we keep loosing our shirts off our back it is that simple,n9t a conspiracy as we the world knows exactly what us Going on thus us why it’s important to stand up against the illegal legal I call it as dad always says it’s mafia in Government which his politics are about being mafia legal it’s that COMMON sense, they have nothing without us it’s that simple and it’s the whole world now seek g it for what it is today,
It’s too bad all of this basically is racketeering from Amazon and Comcast want to control and corner of the market on cable and then strong arm you into contracts. We finally had a way to afford cable TV without getting in debt or behind pain most cable contracts at least $250 per month with everything included and now we have to go back to that legally because add-ons are no more how is that fair? I really hope soon that the FCC gets a handle on these Wi-Fi internet companies and Amazon with their trickery through prime and charge you separate for each movie EarthLink among other companies lie and tell you you’re getting fiber optic gigs and you’re not even getting 12 MGs this should be illegal it’s basically soft lying. And messed up with all the internet trickery going on these days. What can a person do?
All so the celebs can better over profit. He may have stayed off course but didn’t this country have larger issues at hand??? Let’s Go Brandon!
Looking like the start of the END of streaming
Could not have happened to a better guy. Adam the rat Lackman, when this started he turned on all the devs. His users were screwed using fusion actually was malware that slowed the device and the rat would sell piece of shit box at 3 to 4 times the price. He should have been bankrupted.
He even tried to fund his defense with donations.
No matter what he us a scum.
Do we really believe that his streaming cost dish network 19 million dollars? That is absurd. This is one of the many reasons I will never subscribe to dish network or any of the pay to watch TV mafias. Dish network is a straight ripoff, they sneak in all kinds of extra charges and force you to pay for them by giving you extra channels for free and then if you don’t remember to cancel them before the end date they charge you. The problem is you can’t cancel them before the date ends so you have to know the exact date to remember to cancel them. It’s a scam and they are far worse than any lone person giving away free tv. They should be sued and forced to pay back all damages and so should direct tv. They are bullies and liars and I will never support them. All tv should be free
the only problem i had with tv addons was they forced stuff on ones equipment that one didnt ask for .then made it difficult to remove
Funny cuz I can watch pornhub online without any issues but it’s always these ball busters Dish Network that nobody subscribes to and then they want all this money because of the Kodi addons kind of ridiculous isn’t it? You can stream all the stuff you want on your phone or mirror it to your TV also through YouTube or pornhub or various other XXX sites and there’s no problem with that but as soon as you have an add-on in Cody it’s an issue what a crock.
People share things all the time…share cars, share houses, share chairs and office equipment. I cannot understand the rational to charge for digital content
You don’t feel the makers of digital content should be compensated for their work? Do you work for free?
Most double dip getting paid by advertising as well as charging the customer to watch !
Greed, its all about corporate greed. Control what we watch and get rich at the same time. Its the American way……. Wake up America
Are you for real? If you can’t understand that it’s stealing you are just stupid
It used to all be free when I was a kid! Wasn’t until the early to mid 70’s when cable started becoming popular. It started as a way to get programing without all the commercials. So, you PAID a monthly fee to rid yourself of ads. Now cable charges a couple of hundred dollar a month and you still get all the commercials! So, it looks like these cable and satellite service are indeed double dipping! That would be bad enough, but now these same providers force you to have their ads that get big bucks for forced on you via your streaming device. The ads even show up on your hardware such as your remote! But they ain’t done yet! Now they are blocking any attempt by you to rid yourself of their ads.
So, the next time you pay a cable bill just think of all the nefarious fees, taxes, and addons they charge you as they get richer taking your money while getting paid from advertisers to be on YOUR device and YOUR hardware!
So who is the real grifter?