British national John Bunt brought a defamation action against three individuals and three Internet service providers (ISPs): AOL UK, Tiscali UK, and British Telecommunications (BT). With respect to the ISPs, Bunt argued that they should equally be held liable for the publication of the offending words that were transmitted via their services. The respective ISPs sought to dismiss the lawsuit under Article 3.4(2) of the Civil Procedures, contending that they should not be liable for mere facilitation of Internet under the Defamation Act of 1996 and the EU Directive 2000/31 on electronic commerce. The Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice held that as a matter of law “an ISP, which performs no more than a passive role in facilitating postings on the [I]nternet cannot be deemed to be a publisher at common law.” The Court further held that the ISP defendants had established a viable defense under Section 1 of the Defamation Act on the ground that the pleaded facts failed to suggest any knowing participation by the defendants in the publication of the statements.