Canada’s Federal Court has ordered Adam Lackman, the founder of TvAddons, to pay $25 million in piracy charges.
The Montreal native has admitted to the charges and has agreed to pay that amount to a handful of Canadian media giants such as Bell, Rogers, and Videotron.
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TVAddons was once a large library consisting of hundreds of streaming apps known as add-ons. Users who downloaded the app, often via the media player Kodi, would then have access to a cavalcade of pirated copyrighted content, much of which was owned by the companies involved in the case.
“This court orders the Defendant, Mr.Lackman, to pay the Plaintiffs the amount of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) in the form of a lump sum for damages, profits, punitive and exemplary damages, and costs,” reads the official judgment.
“Lackman admits to communicating TV shows owned by the plaintiffs to the public, including by directly or indirectly participating in the “development, hosting, distribution or promotion of Kodi add-ons that provide users with unauthorized access” to the plaintiffs’ TV shows, contrary to sections 3(1)(f) and 27(1) of the Copyright Act,” TorrentFreak reports.
Pressure on Lackman began in June 2017 when his home was raided by the telecom giants via a secret court order. An initial lawsuit was then filed.
Now, after five years of allegations and legal battles, Lackman, whose business is now defunct, said on Twitter that he could finally “move on” with his life.
The lawsuit is now officially over and I can move on with my life. It wasn’t the outcome I had hoped for, but an outcome nonetheless.
I won’t be making further statements on the matter, as I wish to I look towards the future rather than dwell upon the past.
— Adam Lackman • אדם לקמן (@adam_lackman) February 23, 2022
In June 2021, Canada’s Federal Court approved a controversial move to allow internet service providers to block websites that show pirated movies and TV shows. As Canada’s first website-blocking order, it requires internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to certain websites hosting unauthorized content.
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