The long legal battle between CBS and the Federal Communications Commission over Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show is over.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to hear the FCC's request to reinstate a $550,000 indecency fine against CBS for the halftime performance featuring Jackson and Justin Timberlake, who at the end of a song tore a piece of Jackson's top, exposing her bare breast to an audience of about 90 million.
In November, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia upheld its earlier ruling that the FCC's indecency fine against the network was invalid. The court didn't say whether the incident was indecent but said the FCC's fine represented an undisclosed change in the enforcement of its policy with regard to "fleeting images" and hence could not be enforced.
The FCC then appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.
The incident, which took place during the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, led to a crackdown by the FCC on indecent content. The National Football League was also embarrassed by the incident and has since kept a tighter grip on halftime performances and tended to feature artists over the age of 50.