Is Kodi legal? Yes…but the way you’re using it probably isn’t

This article has been in the works for a very long time.

It’s ridiculously hard to write this without sounding preachy or judgmental. That’s not what I’m going for at all.

In the end, I decided to write this because the information is valuable because it’s not something you hear from any one other source.

If you look on YouTube, you’re going to see a lot of “informational videos” that can best be described as…crap.

Seriously.

Most of the videos “asking” is Kodi legal have just a touch of bias.

In the end, that’s what made me write this article.

No matter what side of the law you want to stay on, you need to be aware of the laws in your country.

Laws change all the time, so this isn’t meant to be legal advice by any stretch of the imagination. Think of this as just a brief overview. If you have any doubts, check with your lawyer.

Since almost all of my readers live in either the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom, I’m going to focus on the major laws in those three areas.

Is Kodi legal…yes.

Kodi by itself is just a media player, like VLC or MX Media Player. It doesn’t come with any content by itself.

It’s popular because it will play just about anything you throw at it.

There’s absolutely nothing shady or illegal about it.

Where it gets into trouble is by allowing third-party developers (those that don’t work for Kodi directly) to create add-ons that enhance the core Kodi player and give it increased functionality.

Many of these add-ons are completely benign. They can download album art for movies or music, IMDB information about the actors or directors, or make it easier for you to manage your media library.

But those aren’t the add-ons that you hear about.

The ones that most Kodi users care about.

Kodi is legal but not the way you’re using it

I’m going to focus on two things: addons and your own media.

Is streaming legal? – Kodi Addons

When you think of Kodi, you’re probably thinking of one of the major add-ons (Exodus, Sports Devil, etc)

That’s where the content comes in.

I’ll be completely transparent here: there’s a very large grey area because of the ways laws are written. They haven’t caught up with modern technology.

The United Kingdom

Recently, the UK’s Intellectual Property Office issued guidance about what they call “illicit streaming devices.” Notice that they didn’t say illegal. They said Illicit.

Currently, there’s no laws against streaming copyrighted material.

Keep that in mind. You’re going to see that theme repeated.

Canada

As the Globe & Mail reports, Canada is home to some of the strictest anti-piracy laws in the world. But they’re all geared towards downloading copyrighted material – not streaming it. That’s good news for Canadian Android TV box users…for now.

United States

The US has had some pretty high-visibility lawsuits recently against streamers. Dish Network sued TVAddons and ZemTV in mid-2017 and one at the beginning of 2018. But they’re just the beginning. The United States is establishing case law right now, which makes this a dangerous time to be an “illicit streamer.”

Everyone agrees that downloading a movie from a torrent site such as Pirate Bay is illegal, but streaming doesn’t technically download the file to your computer.

That makes it OK, right?

For right now…that doesn’t make it illegal.

It does make it decidedly iffy though. That’ll have to be good enough.

Sooner or later the laws will change and all hell is going to come down on the people that are hosting these movies and shows.

I’m not judging, but I want you to know what you’re doing can potentially get you into trouble.

A good rule of thumb is that if you’re getting something for free that most people are paying for, that doesn’t mean you got a great deal.

It’s called piracy.

If you’re OK with that, fine. I’m not judging.

Is streaming your own ripped Music\DVD’s\Blu-ray’s legal?

Think of your favorite movie or music CD.

If you bought it at the store and own the disc, there’s nothing wrong with copying it to your hard drive so you can play it on your PC or smartphone, right?

In most places in the world, that’s still illegal.

Yup. That’s right.

Even though you own the disc, you can’t make a copy of it…even for yourself.

In the US, UK, and Canada, it is illegal to circumvent the copy protection on a DVD or Blu-ray movie – even if you’re just making a backup for your own personal use.

Let’s take a look in a bit more detail.

United States

US Code Title 17 holds the major parts of copyright law in the US. At this time, there is no provision for or against making a personal use copy of a DVD\Blu-Ray or CD that you own.

Don’t celebrate yet though.

The DMCA still makes it illegal for you to circumvent copy protection – like the kind found on DVDs and Blu-Ray movies. Back in 2015, they tried to get an exemption to allow for personal use copies, called space shifting. Unfortunately for cord-cutters, the Library of Congress denied that exemption.

So while technically, ripping a DVD or Blu-ray movie is legal in the United States, you’d have to find a movie without copy protection. Good luck.

Canada

The Copyright Act of Canada and the later Copyright Modernization Act allow for personal backup copies except when it circumvents a “technological protection measure.” Similar to the US, it’s technically legal to copy your DVDs and Blu-rays to your hard drive, but not if you bypass any sort of copy protection.

United Kingdom

The UK’s Intellectual Property Office has had a flurry of activity over the past few years. After a brief respite, it is once again illegal to rip CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays. The law makes no exception for personal use whatsoever.

Bottom line

Is Kodi legal? Kodi supporters will swear up and down that, there’s nothing wrong with streaming the latest movies for one reason or another.

And technically they’re right.

But it won’t always be that way.

Things change. Quickly.

I’m not going to judge how you decide to use Kodi – or any other streaming media server. That’s not why I’m here.

I’m here to make sure you’re not flying blind when you’re streaming.

What do you think? Do you think streaming will stay legal, or are its days numbered? Leave a comment below!