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Full Version: Call to Arms: Combatting Trademark Infringement
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(2016-02-15, 15:43)da-anda Wrote: [ -> ]@misa - there is a difference if the copyrighted material is provided for free on the web by the copyright holder or if it's pirated content. But please point us to these add-ons and we'll check them (we can't check everything going on here as we're limited in numbers)

Whilst we're on the subject of where content comes from, do Nintendo and Playstation provide the Internet archive Rom launcher with all those free video games?

For those that don't know, Internet archive rom launcher is a addon supported by Kodi for Retroplayer. It's designed to stream free video games from unauthorised providers directly on Kodi. Seems rather similar to banned video addons.... Hmmmm. But that's okay, since video games aren't as popular as the latest episode of the Big Bang Theory as Kodi team member Ned said.
(2016-02-16, 02:08)Big Aero Wrote: [ -> ]For those that don't know, Internet archive rom launcher is a addon supported by Kodi for Retroplayer. It's designed to stream free video games from unauthorised providers directly on Kodi. Seems rather similar to banned video addons.... Hmmmm. But that's okay, since video games aren't as popular as the latest episode of the Big Bang Theory as Kodi team member Ned said.

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/the-in...1100-5164/
Quote:UPDATE: Giant Bomb user @OverBite helpfully pointed out that the Internet Archive folks have a DMCA exemption from the Copyright Office, which allows the site to archive:

Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.
(2016-02-16, 01:59)Big Aero Wrote: [ -> ]Hi, Keith, can I start selling vanilla Kodi installations on cheapo MXQ Android boxes, and advertise "Stream 1000s of free Nintendo & Playstation games" ?

Obviously I will make sure NOT to install anything from your repo or anyone elses - it will be a fresh installation. The buyer will simply be given a link to the Retroplayer thread on the Kodi forum so they can start streaming their free pirate games.

Since streaming of pirate video games is fully supported by the XBMC Foundation, I assume this is all okay, correct?

I can answer this one. The answer to this is no, but not for any moral reason, or even any trademark reason, as far as I know, but rather because it's astoundingly incorrect and possibly dumb.

First off, the content hosted on the Internet Archive is like 50kb each. And it's possible that for an emulator to work, you need to download the entire ROM. Which means there's nothing to stream. So let's start by saying Download, rather than stream.

Second, Kodi is reliant on Retroarch/ libretro and also on internal software support, which means Playstation games, at least for now, are out. Libretro barely supports them (if at all), and Kodi probably won't for a long time, because 3D graphics are murder for cross compiling. Maybe you could say Nintendo and Sega?

Third, I think it would be incredibly dishonest to say Download 1000s of free nintendo and sega games using Kodi, because that's not what's happening. Consider, for a second, if you are trying to persuade a person to buy an Nvidia Shield for the 4k Netflix content. You wouldn't say, "Buy a Shield, because you can stream tons of 4k content on Android!" because claiming Android is providing the 4k content is dishonest. You would be specific, and say the actual app that's providing the content. "Buy a Shield because you can stream tons of 4k content on Netflix."

Similarly, your MXQ provider should be specific, if they want to be honest, and say, "Buy an MXQ, because you can download tons of retro games from the Internet Archive using IARL!"

If you or a hardware vendor wrote that, I think we'd all be perfectly fine with it.
One solution is have it to where new forum members see a page or what not of the banned add ons list so they know not to speak on those, also about pre configures boxes. Make it mandatory that they agree to the terms just like when you install a program on a PC .
(2016-02-16, 00:48)keith Wrote: [ -> ]1. Incorrect. Kodi doesn't care if ANYONE ships with any of their software for commercial purposes, as long as they follow the trademark policy, which states you must ship unaltered binaries from kodi.tv or google play OR you rebrand. That's it. It's very clear.

You want to load a preinstalled addon, even one from our repo? All branding of Kodi must be removed, and you have to call it something else.

For example: tvaddons forked and created TVMC, following the trademark policy guidelines. I'm sure it's probably happened, but i personally haven't seen single messages on twitter/fb/forum confusing TVMC with Kodi. Ever. And even though they focus on the exact same addons as others use, since they're not using the Kodi trademark, as long as they comply to the GPL (and continue complying to Kodi's trademark policy) what they are doing is completely in their right. And we appreciate the respect they've given us by not using our brand.

Other commercial forks that we have never had a problem with: Plex, Boxee.

OK, so the only difference that I can tell with what I originally said, is that you don't mind them making a profit with the vanilla version of Kodi while it carries the name Kodi. I was actually referring to "most" open sources licenses I have read, not Kodi's, so that's nice of you that you don't mind someone else commercialize your unaltered software.

Anyway, you are on your right, and manufacturers should respect that. Hope you guys are successful quelling these manufacturers.

Quote:3. They did not try to work it out with the foundation at all. Soloman only reached out to us *after* promoting his 'kodi magazine' all over the internet, and initially said if we did not agree with letting him use the kodi name, he would shut the entire project down, then immediately went back on his word once we said no. And repeatedly promised to remove content, some of which is still up to this day. Husham and joenobody has never contacted anyone from the foundation that I am aware of. I have the entire email threads on how we were treated by Soloman.

I would love to see transcripts of them trying to 'work it out' with Kodi and how they were backstabbed. I have mine.

Like I said, I didn't know if they were telling the truth or not, just conveying what they claimed in their video conference.

Quote: We don't care who profits off our work. That was never the point. The Kodi Team's stance is, if you are profiting in a way that hurts or harms others, you're harming Kodi, so please don't do that

What do you mean by "others"? Content Providers? The aforementioned Youtube creators are not providing the content. They mostly talked up Kodi (pre-this drama). They are indeed promoting pirated content addons, and that does misrepresent kodi as the gateway drug, hence damaging the brand. I fully understand this. It is my opinion the team should be leaving the "how much they make" argument out of the discussion. It should be solely about how they are damaging the brand and focus on that. There should be a middle ground here to work with them. I am not lobbying for them, but I doubt you will be able to stop them. Force them to make a few disclosures and stick to some guidelines will probably help.

I doubt, despite their coup, that they can further develop their fork independently. They will keep forking your latest stable version, which i find it worse, as you would do most of the heavy lifting, while they split the user base and directly profiting from your hard work, which is a total different dynamic from the current situation.

I know support is a concern, but if something is "unsupported", then how is it costing you besides the heavier traffic of tweets.

Quote:We appreciate all the work everyone who's contributes to this project positively has done, and we appreciate ways people have extended the platform. We are not removing python (which would be the death of ALL 3rd party addons, and we could easily do if we wanted) but we are considering other manners in which we can lessen the impact of the 'community' that has latched onto using brand for purposes we don't wish to be associated with.
And we, the end users appreciate all the time and effort all of you guys do to provide this awesome piece of software, FOR FREE!!!!!!.


Edit: deleted last sentences, my last question was answered above.
Okay Nate. Another question if you don't mind me asking: is it okay for youtubers to post tutorials on how to download and play 1000s of free Nintendo & Sega games from the IARL on the Kodi platform?

Btw I don't have a MXQ supplier or sell Kodi at all, nor do I have a Youtube channel, I'm just curious.
(2016-02-16, 03:23)coremailrx8 Wrote: [ -> ]OK, so the only difference that I can tell with what I originally said, is that you don't mind them making a profit with the vanilla version of Kodi while it carries the name Kodi. I was actually referring to "most" open sources licenses I have read, not Kodi's, so that's nice of you that you don't mind someone else commercialize your unaltered software.

Anyway, you are on your right, and manufacturers should respect that. Hope you guys are successful quelling these manufacturers.
I've read most of them (GPL, MIT, BSD) and none of them have non-commerical clauses. All of them operate in the same manner as ours, with the exception of since we own our trademark, we can choose what is done with it, outside of just the code. Mozilla does this with Firefox, for example.
(2016-02-16, 03:23)coremailrx8 Wrote: [ -> ]What do you mean by "others"? Content Providers? The aforementioned Youtube creators are not providing the content. They mostly talked up Kodi (pre-this drama). They are indeed promoting pirated content addons, and that does misrepresent kodi as the gateway drug, hence damaging the brand. I fully understand this. It is my opinion the team should be leaving the "how much they make" argument out of the discussion. It should be solely about how they are damaging the brand and focus on that. There should be a middle ground here to work with them. I am not lobbying for them, but I doubt you will be able to stop them. Force them to make a few disclosures and stick to some guidelines will probably help.
Yes, content owners, other streaming companies, etc. The 'Youtuber creators' are the ones who bring in 'we are destroying their livelihood' and keep pointing out 'they live off this income'. As I stated before, if they weren't promoting stuff we didn't approve, we'd be happy and help them in anyway we can for living the dream, being able to support yourself with our software doing what you love. I think all of us dream to do that. They talked Kodi up in a very singular context: to steal media.

And they can continue to do that, just without using the word Kodi. We aren't trying to police the internet, or tell others what to do. Simply restricting how others use *our own brand* that we own a trademark on.

The middle ground has already been stated. They have to fork, rebrand entirely, or not associate our brand with piracy addons. It's that simple. The guidelines are already laid out. Disclosures don't mean anything. When's the last time you read an EULA? People don't pay attention to those things. We could do what targetin1080p suggests and partner with all the media companies to do much worse things, but that's counterproductive to our goal, plus sounds like a massive timesink, worse than this already is.

(2016-02-16, 03:23)coremailrx8 Wrote: [ -> ]I doubt, despite their coup, that they can further develop their fork independently. They will keep forking your latest stable version, which i find it worse, as you would do most of the heavy lifting, while they split the user base and directly profiting from your hard work, which is a total different dynamic from the current situation.
You're right, its much better! If the people who want stuff for free will use their fork, and we will get actual people interested in helping ours. As targetin1080p said in his video in the other post, nobody watching that video has donated anyways, because those users don't respect the work we've put in. The attitudes of entitlement we've received from people like Soloman and Husham have made it clear.

TVAddon's fork seems to be working fine, I assume. I don't know though, because I *never read anything about it* and that is exactly where we want the youtubers to go. If this involves 'splitting the community' well these are not contributors members to the community here anyways, and not people we care about being 'split off'. They should go partner with them, since their goals/ideals/etc seem, from this point of view, seem to be aligned.

(2016-02-16, 03:23)coremailrx8 Wrote: [ -> ]I know support is a concern, but if something is "unsupported", then how is it costing you besides the heavier traffic of tweets.
As many before me have pointed out, the burden is the loss of reputation, brand, burden on our moderators and general annoyances and super time consuming. I help with the ATV4 port in iOS sub-forum for example, and we delete more posts than we respond to which are legitimate posts, because nobody reads anything. They see a tutorial that says KODI and GENESIS, and expect it to work everywhere Kodi does, even on a brand new platform that's barely up and running.

I've spent easily 50h+ on this issue alone since this post started. That's how its costing me personally, plus many other team members time. And this is only the tip of the iceburg in measuring the cost of damages.

Go look through the Garbage Bin if you want to see an example of how much time is wasted. I can't even bear to look at the Android sub-forum, because it's the worst offender of them all.
(2016-02-16, 03:24)Big Aero Wrote: [ -> ]Okay Nate. Another question if you don't mind me asking: is it okay for youtubers to post tutorials on how to download and play 1000s of free Nintendo & Sega games from the IARL on the Kodi platform?
See popcornmix's post above. IARL has a DMCA exemption, so it's not piracy.
(2016-02-16, 03:59)keith Wrote: [ -> ]I've spent easily 50h+ on this issue alone since this post started. That's how its costing me personally, plus many other team members time. And this is only the tip of the iceburg in measuring the cost of damages.

Think about the cost in damages to companies such as Nintendo and Sega, you know, those companies who are effected by the actions of the XBMC Foundation pushing the use of pirate video games out to millions who use the Kodi platform.
(2016-02-16, 04:10)keith Wrote: [ -> ]
(2016-02-16, 03:24)Big Aero Wrote: [ -> ]Okay Nate. Another question if you don't mind me asking: is it okay for youtubers to post tutorials on how to download and play 1000s of free Nintendo & Sega games from the IARL on the Kodi platform?
See popcornmix's post above. IARL has a DMCA exemption, so it's not piracy.

Please find me a up to date renewal of that copyright exemption. What you are referring to was from 10 years ago, and has likely expired/not been renewed.

With that said, I take your comment as a green light to go ahead and make such tutorials if I wish to do so.
(2016-02-16, 04:12)Big Aero Wrote: [ -> ]
(2016-02-16, 04:10)keith Wrote: [ -> ]
(2016-02-16, 03:24)Big Aero Wrote: [ -> ]Okay Nate. Another question if you don't mind me asking: is it okay for youtubers to post tutorials on how to download and play 1000s of free Nintendo & Sega games from the IARL on the Kodi platform?
See popcornmix's post above. IARL has a DMCA exemption, so it's not piracy.

Please find me a up to date renewal of that copyright exemption. What you are referring to was from 10 years ago, and has likely expired/not been renewed.

With that said, I take your comment as a green light to go ahead and make such tutorials if I wish to do so.

According to Wikipedia:

Quote:The exemption was renewed in 2006, and as of 27 October 2009, has been indefinitely extended pending further rulemakings.[15]
with the citation pointing to http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2009/74fr55138.pdf

It says the expected extension period would be three weeks, but also strikes the original 2009 expiration date. I can't find anything newer, so apparently it took longer than three weeks.
Just so we are crystal clear. It is perfectly acceptable for me or anyone to go on youtube.com and post a tutorial or many tutorials on how to download and play 1000s of free Nintendo & Sega video games directly on the Kodi platform? Perhaps even do some speedrunning episodes all presented directly in Kodi.
Yes, but you shouldn't make it sound like Kodi is providing the games. Even if it's a legal use, you still want to avoid confusion. It's conceivable that the Kodi project could have a situation with something completely legal and still misleading where they would want to enforce a trademark (like claiming the Kodi project supports Trump). The legal status of the ROMs is really a different (but related) issue to trademark.

Heck, the Internet Archive could possibly be upset that a video made it sound like someone else provided the games, or something to that extent.
(2016-02-16, 03:24)Big Aero Wrote: [ -> ]Okay Nate. Another question if you don't mind me asking: is it okay for youtubers to post tutorials on how to download and play 1000s of free Nintendo & Sega games from the IARL on the Kodi platform?

Btw I don't have a MXQ supplier or sell Kodi at all, nor do I have a Youtube channel, I'm just curious.


I guess I'm not surprised that IARL was going to be included in this subject. I just wanted to re-iterate, that if my addon causes any consternation, I'm perfectly happy having it removed from the Kodi forum discussions.
@zachmorris, no disrespect to you, Nate & Ned or any of the Kodi developers. It just so happens your addon falls into this subject. The reason I'm questioning this subject thoroughly is because of one simple fact - I do not understand the logic behind XBMC Foundation allowing one form of piracy, and fighting the other in order to distance themselves from it. Some will argue that IARL is legal, some will disagree. The same goes for streaming copyright movies. It all boils down to the same thing at the end of the day, both the video games and movies are sourced via unofficial means - providers who do not own the content.
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