Is your Kodi box legal? TV DEVICE ALLOWS YOU TO WATCH PIRATED CONTENT OVER NET

DID you get a new Kodi box as a Christmas present?

The Android boxes have been popular with people desperate to watch PPV (pay-per-view) films and live sport, including Premier League football, on the cheap.

However, it turns out there is confusion surrounding the legality of the devices, and it depends how they’re used.

People are now wondering if the boxes will be legal for much longer. It is a grey area. The problem with Kodi is that, although it utilises legal and easy-touse software, it can also be used for illegal streaming.

Put simply: Kodi, and boxes with Kodi installed, are perfectly legal. The problem arises when the Kodi app is used to illegally stream subscription content over the internet to your television.

The confusion around the legality of the boxes is so great that it could take a court case involving a man called Brian Thompson, inset, from Middlesbrough to help settle it.

He’s thought to be the first man brought to court to face allegations of selling pre-loaded Kodi or Android boxes. The boxes allow you to watch and stream offline and online content.

The boxes themselves are, effectively, legal. But the problem is with preloaded or altered boxes to watch PPV content, like Sky Sports or films currently in the

Thompson entered not guilty pleas at court and a trial is expected to start before a judge on May 8.

But even if he loses the trial, Brian has already said he intends to fight any decision – even hinting he could take the fight to Europe.

That could result in a lengthy court process which could drag out a definitive ruling on the devices.

One has just finished and resulted in a man receiving a four-year jail sentence for conspiracy to defraud.

In what was thought to be the first sentencing of its kind, Terry O’Reilly was handed the tough term for selling more than 1,000 boxes to pubs, who used them to illegally stream Premier League football.

Following the result, Premier League director of legal services Kevin Plumb said: “The courts have provided a clear message: this is against the law and selling systems which allow people to watch unauthorised Premier League broadcasts is a form of mass piracy and is sufficiently serious to warrant a custodial sentence. “There can now be no doubt for consumers that these systems are

illegal.” In October, bosses at a pub in Middlesbrough called the Navigation were fined £8,000 after being caught streaming matches through a Kodi box.