Court order

A court order is the legal instrument by which a court resolves a dispute or compels action. For hosts, the relevant court orders include takedown injunctions (remove specified content), preservation orders (do not delete logs / data while case is pending), and disclosure orders (turn over customer information). Court orders are issued in the jurisdiction where the case is filed and are typically only directly binding within that jurisdiction.

For offshore hosts, the practical question is which courts can issue binding orders against them. A host incorporated in Iceland and with no U.S. presence is not subject to U.S. court orders directly; orders need to be re-routed via MLAT for execution. The host IS subject to Icelandic court orders, which are typically narrower than U.S. orders for content cases. Reputable offshore operators publish their court-order policy and counter-notify customers when orders arrive (where local law allows).