Today judgment was handed down in the judicial review proceedings brought by ISPs BT and TalkTalk, seeking to strike down the UK's Digital Economy Act 2010. The hearing took place over four days, finishing on 28 March. The judge, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker, has shown admirable industry in completing his 71 page judgment, which is really a tour de force, so swiftly.
The judge works his way through the claimants' various complaints, dismissing them in a largely convincing fashion. In relation to the draft Costs Order, which would impose on ISPs and right holders the costs of OFCOM and the proposed appeals body, the judge held that the proposed order was incompatible with Art. 12 of the Authorisation Directive. Otherwise the Act survived, the judge rejecting arguments that it was disproportionate and contravened the Electronic Commerce, Privacy and Electronic Communications and Authorisation Directives. It gratifying to see convincingly squashed the bogus arguments about data privacy that have for so long been trotted out by ISPs.
TalkTalk's spokesman today claimed magnificently that they would "continue fighting to defend our customers' rights against this ill-judged legislation". If you read TalkTalk's submission to the Hargreaves IP Review, one could be forgiven for suspecting that their real concern is the price they have to pay for music.
Unless there is to be an appeal, the various stakeholders must return to the dull business of trying to thrash out workable arrangements to put into effect what the legislature overwhelmingly approved.
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