The battle to change the rules on 'political' TV and radio advertising by campaign groups was being fought in the High Court this week.
Animal Defenders International took legal action after its My Mate's a Primate TV advert was prevented from being broadcast (Third Sector, 1 March).
Its argument hinges on a European Court of Human Rights case in which a Swiss group successfully challenged a similar ban.
The three-day judicial review pits the ADI against the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and challenges the 2003 Communications Act.
Lawyers for the ADI argued that the ban was disproportionate and unnecessary in a democratic society, and that it breached Article 10 of the European Human Rights Convention.
"This ban is incompatible with the right to freedom of expression," said its counsel, Michael Fordham.
The ADI legal team has stressed the peculiarities of a system that allows fast-food firms to use cartoon chickens to promote their food but bans the RSPCA from broadcasting about the plight of animals bred for the fast-food industry.
The case is being supported by groups including Amnesty and the RSPCA, both of which have had ads stopped by the Act. The judgment will be later this year.
