A number of popular Kodi add-ons have shut down in quick succession which appears to be an effect of a recent copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Dish Network, an American satellite and cable provider. Phoenix is one of the most prominent names among add-ons which has bid its farewells. It was an add-on which allowed users to watch various premium TV shows, movies, and live sports with no need of paying subscription charges. This helped it gain a lot of attention within the Kodi add-ons community and as a result of this sudden shutdown, many of its fans are left disappointed and sad.
Phoenix developer Cosmix did not specifically mention the lawsuit as the reason for the shutdown but he did say, “In light of current events we have decided to close down Phoenix. This is not something that was easy for us to do; we have all formed a bond that cannot be broken as a team and have a HUGE support base that we are thankful of.” Now, if you focus on the “current events” part of the statement, it is most likely referring the lawsuit which has presumably caused other add-on devs to take similar decisions as well. For the uninitiated, Dish Network filed a lawsuit against the ZemTV add-on and TVAddons (an add-ons distribution site) accusing both of allowing users to watch its channels for free. It is currently seeking $150,000 per infringement from both defendants with overall compensation likely to run into hundreds of thousands of dollars if proven guilty.
It is not hard to guess that such a huge amount is not an easy one for add-on developers to shell out, especially when many of them work on such tools as a hobby and for the community with little or no interest in financial gains. This explains why many popular Kodi add-on devs have brought down curtains as they clearly want to stay out of trouble. But it is not the first time for Kodi and its add-ons to be a part of the piracy trouble as even Amazon recently banned fully-loaded Kodi box listings from its site with consequences being as hard as seller accounts being suspended or banned. While the Kodi add-ons community currently appears to be facing a crisis, we should be hearing more on the matter as well as about the lawsuit in the near future.