Is Kinokiste.to legal?
Watching films and series for free at Kinokiste.to sounds good at first. This practical tip will tell you whether this is really legal or whether you are already in the criminally relevant area.
Is Kinokiste.to legal? - Solmecke, the lawyer, explains
The legality of VoD providers like Kinokiste.to
It is relatively easy to answer whether sites like Kintokiste.to are legal: They are usually not. The operators of these streaming services mostly violate the copyright section 15 (2) sentence 2 no. 2 UrhG and the right to reproduce section 16 (1) UrhG, to name just two paragraphs. There are now some relevant judgments against operators of similar sites. For example, the former operators of Kino.to have already been sentenced to prison terms.
- The question of the extent to which you as a user run the risk of being prosecuted cannot be answered clearly. The problem is very complex and there are various, sometimes different judgments. It can be important, for example, whether the film was only temporarily cached. In that case, it would be a passive copyright infringement that is not punishable. It looks different when you download the film and save it to your hard drive.
- However, you should be clear about one thing: You are in a legal gray area when you use the offer of such portals. Ultimately, ignorance does not protect you from punishment, which could be expensive. To avoid being suddenly fined or worse, consider viewing such sites with a healthy dose of suspiciousness before streaming movies.
- It starts with the country code - to stands for Tonga, for example - and the case law there is not necessarily in accordance with the German or European legal concept.
- But the fact that films are offered free of charge shortly after their release should also make you think, because nowadays nobody has anything to give away.
With a clear conscience, you can enjoy the films and series on video-on-demand services such as Maxdome, Watchever or Lovefilm. Netflix has recently started offering its services in Germany.