The Spanish Constitutional Court closes the SeriesYonkis case

The Constitutional Court of Spain has issued a ruling in the case of SeriesYonkis, a link-sharing website for series and films that, at its peak, was one of the country's most popular sites for online audiovisual content. The decision upholds the innocence of the site's operators and rejects the possibility of retroactive application of intellectual property laws.

SeriesYonkis was founded in 2007 by Alberto García Sola and quickly became one of the most popular sites in Spain for unrestricted access to audiovisual content. Although it did not host content directly, the platform facilitated access through links, triggering strong criticism from the entertainment industry, which saw it as a threat. The first lawsuit against the site was filed in 2008, but at the time the legislation did not consider this activity (sharing link) as copyright infringement, allowing SeriesYonkis to operate in a legal grey area. It was not until 2015, with the reform of the Intellectual Property Law, that this activity was formally included in the Spanish legislation as an infringement of copyright.

In 2011, Mr García Sola sold the website in anticipation of possible legal changes, and in 2014 the website voluntarily shut down and removed all links. However, the audiovisual industry continued with legal proceedings, seeking millions in damages (up to 546 million euros) and the retroactive application of the 2015 law.

In 2019, the regional court of Murcia ruled in favour of the defendants, arguing that the operators of SeriesYonkis had not violated the law at the time, as they had only linked to content without hosting it. In 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the decision, despite various appeals lodged by producing and distributing companies, which argued that the operators should be sanctioned under the current intellectual property law, approved in 2015. 

In response, the Audiovisual Producers Rights Management Entity (EGEDA) and other copyright organisations appealed to the Constitutional Court to overturn the acquittal. Their main argument was that, due to the influence and popularity of SeriesYonkis, it was necessary to apply current regulations to avoid setting a precedent that could encourage online piracy. However, in its final decision, the Constitutional Court rejected these appeals, stating that laws cannot be applied retroactively to activities that were not considered illegal at the time.