Premier League granted court order to stop live streaming of games on 'Kodi' boxes

The Premier League has been handed a court order to stop live games being streamed for free on 'Kodi' boxes.

The move means that Sky, alongside the UK’s other Internet Service Providers (ISPs), will be obliged to shut down the source of illegal streams.

The Premier League says it is currently engaged in a range of activity to protect its intellectual property, and the “significant investment” made in the competition by live broadcast partners Sky Sports and BT Sport.

This includes:

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

* Investigations and prosecution of suppliers of IPTV boxes that enable the broadcast of unauthorised Premier League content

* Legal actions against pubs and commercial premises that broadcast unauthorised Premier League content

* Court Orders and injunctions forcing ISPs to block certain websites and domains

* Shutting down illegal streams/cleaning sites of infringing material

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

* The PL has been involved in several recent successful actions that have resulted in custodial sentences, injunctions being granted against sellers and pubs, and significant costs awards

Earlier this week millionaire Malcolm Mayes was given a 10-month suspended prison sentence and a £250,000 fine for selling “fully loaded” Kodi boxes at pubs around the UK.

Mayes, a former steel erector from Hartlepool, was spared jail, but was ordered to pay £80,000 as the profit from his illegal business and £170,000 prosecution costs following a hearing at Teesside Crown Court.

The 65-year-old turned to crime in 2012 when he started selling modified internet protocol television boxes, prosecutor Richard Wright QC told the court.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Following the confirmation of the court order, a Premier League spokesman said: “The Premier League has been granted significant blocking remedies to further curtail the availability of illegal streams.

“For the first time this will enable the Premier League to disrupt and prevent the illegal streaming of our matches via IPTV, so-called Kodi, boxes.

“The order was granted under Section 97a of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, and further demonstrates our intellectual property rights are protected by the law.

“This will enable us to target the suppliers of illegal streams to IPTV boxes, and the internet, in a proportionate and precise manner.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We will continue working with ISPs, government and other sports content producers to protect consumers from illegitimate services that offer no recourse when services are removed, provide no parental controls and, in many instances, are provided by individuals involved in other criminal activity.”