6 DELFI AS v. ESTONIA JUDGMENT considered the publisher of the comments, nor did it have any obligation to monitor them. 20. On 22 October 2007 the Tallinn Court of Appeal allowed L.’s appeal. It considered that the County Court had erred in finding that the applicant company’s responsibility was excluded under the Information Society Services Act. The County Court’s judgment was quashed and the case referred back to the first-instance court for new consideration. 21. On 21 January 2008 the Supreme Court declined to hear the applicant company’s appeal. 22. On 27 June 2008 the Harju County Court, having re-examined the case, found for L. In accordance with the Court of Appeal’s instructions it relied on the Obligations Act (Võlaõigusseadus) and deemed the Information Society Services Act inapplicable. It observed that the applicant company had placed a note on its Internet site that comments were not edited, that it was prohibited to post comments that were contrary to good practice, and that the applicant company reserved to itself the right to remove such comments. A system was put in place whereby users could notify the applicant company of any inappropriate comments. However, the County Court considered that this was insufficient and did not allow adequate protection for the personality rights of others. The court found that the applicant company itself was to be considered the publisher of the comments, and it could not avoid responsibility by publishing a disclaimer that it was not liable for the content of the comments. 23. The County Court found that the news article itself published in the Delfi news portal was a balanced one. A number of comments, however, were vulgar in form; they were humiliating and defamatory and impaired L.’s honour, dignity and reputation. The comments went beyond justified criticism and amounted to simple insults. The court concluded that freedom of expression did not extend to protection of the comments concerned and that L.’s personality rights had been violated. L. was awarded EEK 5,000 (EUR 320) in non-pecuniary damages. 24. On 16 December 2008 the Tallinn Court of Appeal upheld the County Court’s judgment. It emphasised that the applicant company had not been required to exercise preliminary control over comments posted on its news portal. However, having chosen not to do so, it should have created some other effective system which would have ensured rapid removal of unlawful comments from the portal. The Court of Appeal considered that the measures taken by the applicant company were insufficient and that it was contrary to the principle of good faith to place the burden of monitoring the comments on their potential victims. 25. The Court of Appeal rejected the applicant company’s argument that its responsibility was excluded on the basis of the Information Society Services Act. It noted that the applicant company was not a technical intermediary in respect of the comments, and that its activity was not of a