Justice has opened the door for the first time for LaLiga to sue private clients for football piracy.
The Commercial Court number 8 of Barcelona has accepted the request for information proceedings that the body chaired by Javier Tebas presented in January to report private users who consume protected audiovisual content through IPTV (Internet Protocol
Television)
services . in English).
The magistrate has ordered five telecommunications companies, Telefónica, Vodafone, Orange, MásMóvil and Digi, to provide the data of clients who connected to any of the illegal services.
Legal sources point out that there may be thousands of users who could face a lawsuit for irregular access to televised football.
In an order dated February 13, and to which ELPAÍS has had access, the judge explains that LaLiga, which holds the intellectual property rights of the national football competition, requests certain data to complete the identification of the users of the piracy network, and with them file a future lawsuit for infringement of the right to intellectual property.
According to the resolution, the sports organization has already provided the IP addresses (unique address that identifies a device on the Internet) and ports of the illegal servers, as well as evidence of matches or programs that are accessed illegally.
Now, the operators will have to send directly to LaLiga - by sending through a secure electronic channel without the need for an in-person appearance in court, the order indicates - the data of the clients who connected to said pirate servers, such as the name and surname of the owner of the Internet access service contract, postal address of the line installation and billing, in addition to the DNI.
The judge gives the clubs' employers a month to present the lawsuit once they receive all the data requested from the telecommunications companies.
The commercial judge justifies the decision adopted in favor of the football association in that all users who use altered decoders have the purpose of defrauding the payment of the fees of subscribers to the legal service, or of illicitly capturing the signal for their use. distribution, getting rich from it.
“It cannot be considered that the registered illicit activity associated with the identified IPs has been carried out by mere end consumers in good faith and without the intention of obtaining economic or commercial benefits,” the magistrate emphasizes.
Economic impact
Along these lines, the order emphasizes that in the 2022/2023 season “the LaLiga inspection forces in public establishments identified a total of 8,747 establishments that were broadcasting pirated content through the CCam/IKS system, which is "It estimates that it could mean losses of up to 27.7 million euros annually."
The order describes one of the illicit access routes, the so-called
cardsharing
.
The piracy network accesses the channels that offer football through a legitimate payment card, which is associated with a computer or satellite decoder that is continuously connected to the internet, providing decrypted access codes.
This information is shared with customers, imitating the original subscriber card, allowing them to access the encrypted signal.
Both the network that provides the service and the clients that access it leave their trace through IP addresses, which identify the devices that connect to the Internet.
The most advanced system, and the one most in use, is IPTV, which distributes the video signal through broadband connections without the need for cards, and which LaLiga also targets in this judicial process.
This judicial decision in favor of LaLiga adds to the latest rulings that are intensifying the siege on piracy through IPTV.
Recently, the Provincial Court of Pontevedra upheld a lawsuit by EGEDA, Mediapro and Movistar+ against Engel Systems, which was sentenced to 673,000 euros, as well as several of its directors against whom fines ranging from 540 euros to 7,290 euros have been imposed. , for the sale of decoders to pirate content.
This ruling was pioneering because until now the courts had condemned the mafias that are behind piracy, as well as the public establishments (bars and restaurants) that broadcast pirated football, but never before against companies that distribute the illegal service or residential individuals who they enjoy it.
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