VAR ownership trial reaches 11 months with no ruling in sight

The dispute over who owns the intellectual property rights behind VAR is still making its way through the courts. Francisco Antonio López Romera is pursuing a lawsuit against FIFA and the Royal Spanish Football Federation in which he claims 300 million euros for the use of video refereeing in sports competitions. The trial was held on 9 October 2025 and the case has been waiting for a ruling for eleven months.

• The Madrid Provincial Court only ruled on precautionary measures, not on the substance of the case
• The claimant says he authored the work containing VAR technology, first registered in 1999
• The compensation requested amounts to 300 million euros
• The oral hearing took place in October 2025 and the case remains pending judgment

The 2024 ruling that only addressed precautionary measures

A ruling by the Madrid Provincial Court recently came to light after it dismissed an appeal linked to the precautionary measures requested in this case. That decision, issued in the spring of 2024, did not tackle the central issue of the dispute: it said nothing about the ownership of the work nor about a possible infringement of the intellectual property rights discussed in the main claim.

It was, therefore, a procedural decision with a limited scope. The ruling left the substance of the case untouched and cannot be read as either a validation or a definitive rejection of the financial demands made by the claimant.

What Francisco Antonio López Romera is claiming

López Romera maintains that he is the creator of the work 'El Fútbol del Siglo XXI – Tecnología de futuro para equipos arbitrales', commonly translated as Football of the 21st Century. The work has been registered with the Intellectual Property Registry on several occasions: in 1999, in 2016 and again in 2025. According to the claimant, that body of work contains the technological system on which modern video refereeing is built.

The legal debate is not about whether VAR works on the pitch, but about who can legally claim authorship of the idea that made it possible.

Based on that claim of authorship, the claimant filed the lawsuit against FIFA and the Royal Spanish Football Federation, arguing that the use of video refereeing in sports competitions infringes his intellectual property rights. The financial claim reaches 300 million euros.

Eleven months of waiting after the oral hearing

The main proceedings continued normally after the precautionary measures matter was resolved. The oral hearing took place on 9 October 2025, when both sides presented their arguments before the court. Since then, the case has been ready for judgment.

Eleven months have now passed since that session without any final ruling being made public. The delay does not change the legal substance of the case, but it keeps open the question of how one of the most ambitious disputes in professional football will end.

What is at stake for FIFA and the Spanish Football Federation

VAR has become a structural tool in modern refereeing. It is used in major European leagues, in international national-team competitions and in the most relevant club tournaments. A ruling that recognised an infringement of intellectual property rights would carry major financial and organisational consequences for the bodies that govern football.

For the Spanish federation and FIFA, the case is not only about paying the claimed compensation. It would also raise questions about how video refereeing was implemented and about the legal guarantees under which it has been rolled out in official competitions in recent years.

A singular intellectual property case in the world of sport

López Romera's claim rests on documentary records dating back to the late 1990s. That timeline makes the case unusual in sports law: rarely has a private individual gone to court to claim authorship of a technology that has transformed professional competition on a global scale.

The final ruling will first have to determine whether the registered work actually contains the technological system later introduced in professional football. It will then have to assess whether the use of VAR by FIFA and the Spanish federation constitutes an infringement of the rights granted to the author.