Sky falls on My Box as Kodi use ruled illegal
The High Court has removed any doubt that tens of thousands of New Zealanders are breaking the law by using Android media players with Kodi software to view pay-television programmes for free, Sky Television says.
Sky took action against Hamilton masseur turned internet-TV mogul Krish Reddy and his company, My Box NZ, after he admitted selling about 20,000 Android boxes preloaded with software that made it easy for people to watch pay TV without paying.
Sky said the High Court ruling made it clear it was not lawful to use the company’s My
Box units or other preloaded ‘‘Kodi boxes’’ to watch programming for which Sky has the New Zealand rights, without paying Sky.
My Box is the second Kodi box seller to be prosecuted by Sky, after the Christchurch District Court ruled against another distributor of the devices, Fibre TV, in July.
According to research commissioned by Sky about 5 per cent of New Zealanders are using Kodi boxes or similar devices to stream pirated content from the internet – which commonly includes sports broadcasts from overseas to events for which Sky owns the broadcast rights.
The research also said that not all Kodi box users found it very easy to tell whether what they were watching was legitimate.
Reddy has been contacted for comment.
His other ventures under the umbrella company Von Roy Group include handyman firm Handyman Pro and massage business Six Sense, at which Reddy is still listed as a senior therapist.
Sky general counsel Sophie Moloney said the High Court ruling, along with the ruling against Fibre TV in Christchurch, sent ‘‘a very clear message to New Zealanders’’ that preloaded Kodi boxes were ‘‘not all they are cracked up to be’’.
‘‘Essentially these boxes have been marketed and sold as legal options for accessing sports and entertainment for a one-off fee, when all they do is find and broadcast pirate streams.’’
Sky was awaiting a full trial next year to determine damages from My Box NZ, she said.
Sky took action under the Fair Trading Act, contesting My Box NZ’s claims that its devices were legal – rather than directly under the Copyright Act – because its ‘‘most immediate concern’’ was that My Box NZ and Reddy were misleading the public about the legality of the My Box units.
However, Sky believed the Copyright Act needed to be amended, Moloney said.
‘‘It is clear from the judgment that a claim under the Copyright Act could succeed, but it would have been a complex and timeconsuming process,’’ as it would require the copyright owners to join the proceedings, she said.