Verizon's anti-net neutrality lawsuit tossed on technicality [ArsTechnica]
When the FCC released its network neutrality rules a few months ago, Internet service providers Verizon and MetroPCS were quick to respond with lawsuits.
Verizon was the first to bring a claim over the new rules. Interestingly, Verizon chose to bring its claim before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Court of Columbia, which is the same Court that issued the Comcast case that called the FCC’s authority into question in the first place. In fact, Verizon even requested the same judges.
As savvy as that move might have been, the case has now been dismissed for fairly technical reasons. The Court’s order pointed to the “prematurity” of Verizon’s claim. The FCC net neutrality rules had not yet been published in the Federal Register when the claims were brought. This filing must occur before a proper challenge may be brought to FCC action.
The FCC can count this as a win, for now. It’s likely that Verizon and MetroPCS will still bring their claims. They simply will not have the benefit of having the claims heard by the D.C. Court of Appeals.
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