The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of broadband provider Comcast Corp. in a case seen as a test of the authority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enforce "net neutrality."

Net neutrality is the principle that ISPs provide the same speed and level of service to all Web users, regardless of size.

Net neutrality would prevent ISPs, for example, from blocking or slowing bandwidth-hogging Web traffic such as streaming video or other applications that put a strain on their networks or from charging different rates to users.

The three-judge appeals court ruled unanimously in the Comcast case that the FCC had not been granted the legal authority by the US Congress to regulate the network management practices of ISPs.

The judges said the FCC had failed to demonstrate it has the authority to prevent Comcast from interfering with the use by its customers of peer-to-peer networking applications, which consume large amounts of bandwidth.

The case ended up in court after two advocacy groups, Free Press and Public Knowledge, challenged Comcast over its 2007 blocking of the use of file-sharing program BitTorrent and the FCC issued an order barring the practice.

During his White House campaign, President Barack Obama came out strongly in favor of net neutrality, which is backed by companies such as Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, eBay and consumer advocacy groups, but opposed by telecommunications, wireless and cable companies.

Under its new chairman, Julius Genachowski, the FCC has begun drafting rules that would require ISPs to protect net neutrality.

The draft proposed rules would allow broadband Internet providers to conduct "reasonable network management" and block spam, unlawful content such as child pornography and files that infringe copyright.

But they would not be allowed to discriminate against lawful content.

The FCC has also embarked on a plan to make the United States a world leader in high-speed broadband Internet access and the ruling could be a blow to this ambitious effort.

The FCC indicated Tuesday that the court ruling was not the final word.

"The FCC is firmly committed to promoting an open Internet and to policies that will bring the enormous benefits of broadband to all Americans," said FCC spokesperson Jen Howard.

"It will rest these policies -- all of which will be designed to foster innovation and investment while protecting and empowering consumers -- on a solid legal foundation," Howard said.

"Today's court decision invalidated the prior Commission's approach to preserving an open Internet," Howard said. "But the Court in no way disagreed with the importance of preserving a free and open Internet; nor did it close the door to other methods for achieving this important end."

Comcast welcomed the court decision.

"(Comcast) remains committed to the FCC's existing open Internet principles, and we will continue to work constructively with this FCC as it determines how best to increase broadband adoption and preserve an open and vibrant Internet," said Sena Fitzmaurice, Comcast's vice president of government communications.

Steve Largent, head of CTIA-The Wireless Association, the telecom industry trade group, also welcomed the ruling.

"The FCC needs to focus on the important task of making the promise of the National Broadband Plan a reality by spurring investment, innovation and job growth, and turn away from calls to impose restrictive regulations on broadband providers and the Internet ecosystem," Largent said.

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