On 11 October 2011, the Court of Appeal in England dismissed ICO’s appeal against a judgment of the Administrative Court which refused an application for judicial review by ICO. The application was to quash a decision by the UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) to write to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to request the cancellation of the ICO assignments recorded in the ITU Master International Frequency Register for the ICO-P mobile satellite communications system.

The court held that Ofcom provided ICO with every opportunity to make the assignments fully operational. It concluded that Ofcom’s decision to cancel ICO’s filing was validly made in the context of Ofcom’s UK and international (ITU) duties. There was no realistic prospect of the ICO assignment being used in any real sense and Ofcom had not acted disproportionately in seeking to cancel ICO’s assignment.

ICO have 28 days in which to appeal to the Supreme Court.

For the full text of the decision, please go to: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/1121.html