An ongoing court case which has sent shock waves through the Kodi streaming community took a dramatic turn this week.

The case, which was filed earlier this month by US broadcaster Dish Network against two of the biggest Kodi add ons, looks to tackle piracy and illegal streaming on the platform.

The lawsuit is against Zem TV and popular TV add on library TVAddons, which was previously home to more than 1,500 Kodi extensions and rumoured to have around 30 million visitors each month.

Zem TV and TV Addons face copyright infringement and could be fined up to $150,000 per offence, a penalty which could run into the millions of dollars.

TV Addons mysteriously shut down earlier this month and while no official explanation was given it was widely believed to be the result of the legal action taken by Dish Network against those who manage the service.

Now the pressure on those operate TV Addons and Zem TV has intensified after a US court granted a subpoena to help identify the developers behind the services.

The subpoena means that Dish Network can approach the likes of Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Google and Amazon to find out who owns email and social media accounts linked to the add ons, Torrent Freak reported.

If the developers are found and prosecuted, the impact on the Kodi community would be huge, and is likely to result in scores of other add ons closing down, with those responsible for the services unlikely to want to face the same fate.

Similar threats of legal action have already resulted in lots of other add ons closing down in recent months. Among the most popular to close have been Phoenix and Navi-X.

At the time of its closure, a statement from the team behind Navi-X read:

“Every good thing must come to an end”.

“After ten years of successful operation, Navi-X has sadly being discontinued. Navi-X was first released in April 2007, and is the oldest Kodi addon of its kind.

“The main reason why the decision was made to discontinue the Navi-X service is the current legal climate surrounding Kodi.”