Football fans who had been hoping to watch a Premier League match for free via their Kodi boxes were left puzzled and disappointed on April 1.
Instead of access to numerous free streams, visitors to Kodi.tv found that the website had been ‘seized’ by the US authorities.
Users were greeted by a message claiming to be from the US Department of Justice, Homeland Security and the National Intellectual Property Right Coordination Centre.
But the temporary ‘takeover’ of the site was an April Fool by owners of the Kodi site.
Authorities and broadcasters have been cracking down on Kodi users over claims of copyright infringement.
Britain’s four biggest broadband providers to Virgin Media, BT, Sky and Talk Talk will be able to shut off connections hosting pirated streams following a High Court ruling last month.
The Kodi set-top box was causing particular concern for BT and Sky which had both paid millions for licences to host Premier League games.
On Sunday Kodi issued a statement which said: “Apologies if we scared you, but you’ll have noticed that we’ve redecorated while you were looking the other way.
“Some might even suggest that taking the website and forum down for a couple of days was all part of the plan.
“However, despite the ‘seized-and-offline’ gag, there’s a serious message here. It is genuinely true that we’re facing a constant tidal wave of piracy boxes, trademark infringements and erroneous (or outright misleading) news reports.
“Hardly a day goes past without the Kodi brand getting dragged into the mud somewhere, and it is a continuous and thankless task to push back on that across this forum, Facebook, Twitter, and the press.”
It added: “So, let’s be clear: Kodi does not provide content. It never has, and it never will. However, in the spirit and freedom of open source, we make no limitations on what other people choose to do with the program.”
