Spanish Court Declines to Fine NordVPN over LaLiga Piracy Blocking Order
What they're not telling you: # Spanish Court Declines to Fine NordVPN over LaLiga Piracy Blocking Order ## SECTION 1 A Spanish judge just handed a tech company a partial victory in a fight that exposes how far sports leagues will push courts to become enforcement arms—and how far courts will let them, as long as plausible deniability remains intact. In February 2024, Spain's Commercial Court No. 1 of Córdoba issued what it called a "dynamic injunction" ordering NordVPN and ProtonVPN to actively block IP addresses hosting illegal LaLiga matches.
What the Documents Show
The order came without the VPN companies being heard beforehand. No right of appeal was granted immediately. Both companies challenged the court's jurisdiction over foreign-incorporated entities. The structure of the order itself revealed the stakes: the court was attempting to convert private intermediaries into real-time content police, tasked with tracking and blocking addresses that change within hours. LaLiga then escalated.
Follow the Money
The sports league asked the Córdoba judge to impose coercive fines against NordVPN for what it characterized as deliberate non-compliance with the blocking order. This week, the judge declined. The court found that NordVPN's technical evidence—evidence presented in sworn testimony—was sufficient to undermine any finding of willful breach. The technical evidence itself matters here. NordVPN documented two problems with the order's implementation demands. First: the IP addresses LaLiga flagged changed frequently, often within hours.
What Else We Know
By the time NordVPN could process and implement a block, the piracy operation had already migrated to new infrastructure. The targeted addresses became stale almost immediately. Second: blanket IP-level blocking at the scope demanded would have rendered thousands of lawful websites inaccessible to Spanish users and users elsewhere. This is overblocking—collateral damage so severe it violates the principle of proportionality that should govern any content-blocking mandate. The court's actual reasoning, as described by NordVPN's own account, was notably modest. The judge did not declare NordVPN's experts right and LaLiga's wrong.
Primary Sources
- Source: Hacker News
- Category: Corporate Watchdog
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