BT and TalkTalk yesterday failed in their bid for a ruling that provisions in the Digital Economy Act which require ISPs to send warning letters to illegal file sharers and provide list of these to copyright holders are incompatible with EU law.
Copyright owners are likely to be cheered by this decision but the appellants may take the case to the Supreme Court and it remains to be seen how the consumer will be affected. It has been suggested that broadband prices will increase as ISPs attempt to claw back the costs of the regime, which would include a contribution to the costs incurred by Ofcom in setting up an appeals body against consumer challenges to imposed fines.
So uncertainty continues and we still await the final Code of Conduct from Ofcom.
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