LaLiga claims court order win over NordVPN
Top flight Spanish football league LaLiga has successfully obtained legal orders against internet regulator bypasser NordVPN, it says.
It is part of a sustained campaign by the Spanish league against piracy of matches both domestically and internationally.
The Commercial Court demanded as part of its order that NordVPN and fellow site ProtonVPN now actively seek to block IP addresses from within Spain from accessing LaLiga matches.
A VPN, or virtual private network, is an easily accessible way to browse the internet while disguising true locations. It allows British sports fans, for example, to use overseas websites to watch 3pm Premier League kick-offs.
A new report released in January this year showed that the number of illegal streams of sport across Britain hit over 3.5bn across the last three years with the legal media rights landscape valued at £44bn last year globally. Black market gambling, too, is on the rise.
And last year it was revealed, through analysis by Enders Analysis, that products such as the Amazon Fire Stick were “piracy enablers”.
LaLiga claim VPN win
LaLiga figures have said that tackling piracy is among their top priorities, with Spain’s domestic operation trying to emulate the financial success of the Premier League.
The victory for LaLiga, in conjunction with Telefonica Audiovisual Digital, comes with a requirement from the Commercial Court to “preserve sufficient digital evidence of the unlawful transmission of the protected contents”.
NordVPN is owned by Nord Security, and is a primary sponsor of basketball team London Lions.
The virtual private network firm was founded by individuals at Tesonet, which owns the capital’s hoop-shooting team.
Spanish giants Real Madrid are top of LaLiga after 24 matches with fellow galactico side Barcelona close behind.
Villarreal and Atletico Madrid complete the top four with the latter side recently announcing a major investment by private equity giants Apollo Management.