The challenge made by the two major UK internet service providers, BT and Talk Talk, against the Digital Economy Act through which ISPs would be forced to apply a “three-strikes” policy against their customers suspected of file-sharing has been mostly dismissed by The U.K. High Court leaving the two challengers only with the option to appeal to the U.K. Court of Appeal, or the European Court of Justice. “BT and TalkTalk had brought the judicial review, claiming that the measures in the Act were not compliant with EU law and were not proportionate. The judge rejected the challenge.”


The U.K. Department for Culture, Media and Sport were prompt with comments saying that the decision “upheld the principle of taking measures to tackle the unlawful downloading of music, films, books and other copyright material.”


We say the challenge was ‘mostly’ dismissed because ISPs received a somewhat concession, in that from the total amount related to identifying infringers, capping bandwidth or temporarily disconnecting repeat file-sharers from the Internet they would only have to reach in their pockets for 25% while the rest of the costs will be supported by copyright owners.


“This judgment gives the green light for action to tackle illegal downloading in the UK,” said in a statement Geoff Taylor, CEO of record label trade group BPI.


Source = P2Pon.com : TalkTalk and BT’s Challenge to the Digital Economy Bill Gets Dumped by High Court