BT wins right to appeal High Court ruling on Digital Economy Act

BT has been given the right to appeal against the High Court ruling that dismissed all but one of the telco's challenges to the Digital Economy Act (DEA), despite having its initial appeal rejected by the Appeals Court in June.

BT confirmed in a brief statement that it can now appeal against the first decision in April, in which three of the four points raised by BT and TalkTalk were dismissed.

"We are pleased to have been granted permission to appeal the High Court judgement. We now expect that the hearing will take place as soon as possible," BT said.

Internet minister Ed Vaizey has criticised BT's continued attempts to challenge the DEA, but Friday's ruling allows the company to continue the fight.

Lee Myall, director of networking company Interoute, welcomed the decision, arguing that the legislation must be based on more balanced input from all relevant stakeholders.

"Finally, common sense seems to be prevailing. The DEA was pushed through parliament like a steam train. It is time to reflect on the intricacies of the Act and what it means for the creative industries and the telecoms industry," he said.

"The buck was effectively being passed to internet service providers, when the industry as a whole needs to take responsibility for the protection of online content."

The DEA has lost some of its weight, however, after a court upheld a motion forcing BT to block the Newzbin 2 file-sharing site under the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act, rather than the DEA.

The decision demonstrated that rights holders already have the necessary legislation to tackle piracy and copyright infringement, and that the web blocking elements of the DEA could well be redundant.