The validity as evidence in trials in Spain of reports from historical repositories of web pages

The Provincial Court of Zaragoza, Section 5, in its Judgment 450/2019 of May 31st. 2019, Rec. 763/2018, which resolves the lawsuit filed by one company against the patent registered by another, validates the report issued by WayBack Machine, a North American non-profit internet portal that uses software that stores copies of the majority of websites of some importance. In what matters here, the Judgment points out (we reproduce its literal content):

"... One way to prove the existence of content on the Internet is to go to trusted third parties who copy content from other websites, such as Google, Yahoo and other search engines, that keep caches of the sites that they index and allow access to the contents of pages that have changed or that are no longer on the original site.

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A better solution is to consult the WayBack Machine, created by the non-profit organization "The Internet Archive" domiciled in San Francisco, United States.

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In the case at hand, in addition to an affidavit from Mr. Daniel, administrator, has been provided of "The Internet Archive" that certifies the authenticity of the corresponding web pages contributed to the file of the case, a notarial deed act that attests that the aforementioned pages have been consulted by the notary through WayBack Machine.

Consequently, the Chamber considers that the aforementioned pages correspond to those published on the Internet on the dates indicated.

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The Wayback Machine tool with Judicial use has also been validated by the Provincial Court of Barcelona, ​​in a Judgment of March 12th, 2018. In what interests here, the Judgment points out (we reproduce its content):

“(…) The court understands that the contribution to the trial of Internet web pages can be accepted as valid evidence in court under article 299.2 of the Civil Procedure Law:“ They will also be admitted, in accordance with the provisions of this Law, the means of reproduction of the word, sound and image, as well as the instruments that allow to archive and know or reproduce words, data, figures and mathematical operations carried out for accounting or other purposes, relevant to the process. "