The Commercial Court No. 1 of Córdoba notified the Spanish football league LALIGA and one of its distributors, Telefónica Audiovisual Digital (TAD), that the Court has granted the “inaudita parte” precautionary measures that they had requested against NordVPN and ProtonVPN.
The orders recognize these VPN providers as technological intermediaries in the process of piracy of LALIGA matches, and that they obfuscate the real geographic location of online access. The orders also noted how the defendant companies acknowledge and even advertise “that their system is excellent at evading restrictions.”
Both companies were ordered to immediately implement the appropriate measures in their internal systems to make it possible for the IP addresses provided by LALIGA and Telefónica, to be made inaccessible from Spain. Blocking must be dynamic, meaning that if the addresses change, the block must follow them. The Court allowed for no appeal to this decision.
Upholding precedent
The measures to prevent these service providers “from contributing so that in Spain the access restrictions to certain websites that various Spanish judicial authorities have already decreed are evaded,” is a clear reference to the December 2024 judgment of Commercial Court No. 6 of Barcelona, which had ordered the blocking of IP addresses used by pirates over Cloudflare and RootedCON CDNs.
Preserving evidence
The Court orders also require LALIGA and Telefónica Audiovisual Digital to “preserve sufficient digital evidence of the unlawful transmission of the protected contents” that they notify to the defendants, thus supporting the reliability of the procedures that LALIGA had already been using by virtue of that same December 2024 judgment, among others.
Why it matters
These judicial decisions, unheard of in Spain and pioneering worldwide due to their dynamic nature, add to other similar ones such as the one issued in France, where the responsibility of VPNs in the process of audiovisual fraud is also recognized.
The Court orders also recognize that VPN service providers are technological intermediaries that fall within the scope of application of the European Digital Services Regulation and, therefore, are subject to the requirement to prevent at least the commission of infringements under their infrastructures.
Further reading
Offiicial Statement: Information Note on the precautionary measures granted to LALIGA against NordVPN and ProtonVPN in defense of the audiovisual rights of its Clubs. Press release. February 17, 2026. LALIGA
Paris court decrees VPN blocking, a win for Canal+ and LFP; following Italy’s lead. Article. May 21, 2025. by Steven Hawley. Piracy Monitor.
Barcelona court denies network service providers’ request to annul blocking decision. Article. March 27, 2025. by Steven Hawley. Piracy Monitor.
