Comcast

[Sv98290]

Wa state
I got a court date from Comcast to appear next month for copyright infringement. I have an apple tv which my friend gave me and it has a program named Cody and used it to watch movies once in a while. But have no idea that it's pirate stuff since they are old movies. I never received a warning letter, die to the probability that the mailman never gives me the correct mail and have reported him before to the postmaster. I want to know what are the consequences? Jail? Fine?

 

[quincy]

Wa state
I got a court date from Comcast to appear next month for copyright infringement. I have an apple tv which my friend gave me and it has a program named Cody and used it to watch movies once in a while. But have no idea that it's pirate stuff since they are old movies. I never received a warning letter, die to the probability that the mailman never gives me the correct mail and have reported him before to the postmaster. I want to know what are the consequences? Jail? Fine?

Comcast generally sends out several copyright infringement warning notices to its account holders before court action is taken against a suspected infringer, so I am a bit surprised you received none - but warning notices are not a legal requirement. A copyright holder can skip any warning or notice and just file an infringement lawsuit.

I recommend you have the court summons/complaint you received personally reviewed by an experienced IP attorney in your area to determine the complaint's legitimacy. If you know you used Kodi*, though, the odds are pretty good that the suit has some merit.

You will want to follow your attorney's advice on how to handle the infringement action. If the copyrighted work or works you are accused of accessing illegally were registered with the Copyright Office prior to the infringement, the copyright holder will be eligible in court for statutory damages ranging from $750 per infringed item up to $30,000 per infringed item (although especially egregious intentional infringement allows for damages of up to $150,000 per infringed item). You could be able to negotiate a settlement pretrial for less than the statutory amounts likely to be awarded.

Although most copyright infringement actions will be civil actions, infringement of copyrights can be a federal crime. The Department of Justice will only file criminal charges when the infringement is for commercial gain and the amount of money involved is substantial. Criminal convictions come with the possibility of jail time.


*the program you are referring to is "Kodi" not "Cody"

 

[FlyingRon]

Kodi itself is just an open source streamer. It's that you used it to watch pirate sources that is the problem.

 

[quincy]

Kodi itself is just an open source streamer. It's that you used it to watch pirate sources that is the problem.

It sounds as if a modified version of the Kodi media player was installed on Sv98290's television, which facilitated the infringement. If it can be shown Sv98290 had no knowledge of this prior to the infringement notification, an innocent infringement defense could potentially be asserted (if a defense becomes necessary).

Amazon removed all modified versions of Kodi from their website earlier this year (I am not sure if eBay has done the same yet) and the Kodi developers are actively pursuing, by way of trademark infringement actions, those who are marketing the illegal media players preinstalled with modified versions of Kodi.

I am not sure Kodi will be able to modify its reputation as easily as their media boxes are being modified. Kodi has become linked so closely to piracy-related activities that it might be hard for the brand to recover.