The websites several Israeli Kodi repositories and add-ons were shut down this week following legal action by a local anti-piracy group. The operators of the platforms said they agreed to pay a settlement of thousands of Sheqels and face a large fine if they restarted their services.
The popularity of Kodi media player has skyrocketed in recent years as many have started using it as their main source of entertainment because often with the help of unofficial add-ons they can access countless pirated Movies and TV shows.
While the same software Kodi is completely legal, many third-party add-ons are not. In Israel this led the local anti-piracy group ZIRA to take action against several popular add-ons and repositories that were used to stream pirated movies on Kodi.
Last week, the anti-piracy team ordered the Kodi pirate to stop pirating, but before filing lawsuits, the group said they had already signed an agreement with three of the add-ons developers.
A few days ago, abeksis.com, kodiwizardil.net and kodi-senyor.co.il stopped working without any warning.notice, according to Torrentfreak. It is worth mentioning that the Abeksis repository was one of the main targets of the anti-piracy team, as it turned Kodi into a piracy hub.
Kodi repos and add-ons that have stopped working seem to have preferred to do so voluntarily rather than be brought to court for piracy.
ZIRA is reportedly pleased with the result and notes that the termination of these services is "another victory in the fight against pirated Internet content."
On the other hand, the owners of repos and add-ons are reportedly paying with a settlement a few thousand Sheqel. You will also have to pay 100.000 Sheqel (around 28.000 dollars) if they restart their services at some point.
As a warning to the public, the three sites in question replaced the content that appeared to date with a ZIRA message. The message informs visitors about the closure of the services due to piracy.
"The site was removed because it violated copyright. The site operators were fined by the court and therefore the site stopped working!
The cost of copyright infringement is borne by the Israeli people, Israeli culture and the income of content creators. "
