Ever since the FCC handed down its 3-2 decision against cable operator Comcast's network management techniques, Comcast has been expected to sue the FCC. Today, the cable giant made good on those predictions, filing an appeal of the FCC ruling in the DC Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over FCC decisions.

The appeal itself is brief: a two-page document, a cover letter, and a $450 check. But the fight that it spawns will no doubt drag on for quite some time, centering on one major question: can the FCC rule against Comcast based on a policy statement that the FCC said was not enforceable at the time?

In a statement today, however, Comcast did admit that the FCC does have the authority to regulate ISPs "in appropriate circumstances and in accordance with appropriate procedures."

As the legal process plays itself out, Comcast has pledged to abide by the order and continue its work to move towards a protocol-agnostic throttling system that could slow "heavy users" down to DSL levels for 20 minutes at a time (another piece of the bandwidth management puzzle, hard bandwidth caps, were also announced last month).

"Although we are seeking review and reversal of the Commission's network management order in federal court, we intend to comply fully with the requirements established in that order, which essentially codify the voluntary commitments that we have already announced, and to continue to act in accord with the Commission’s Internet Policy Statement," said David Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president.

"Thus, we intend to make the required filings and disclosures, and we will follow through on our longstanding commitment to transition to protocol-agnostic network congestion management practices by the end of this year."

With Comcast pledging to abide by the FCC's decision, what's the point of the lawsuit? The FCC's finding and order are precedent setting, in that the Commission has rendered a decision on how far ISPs can go in managing their networks for the first time. That's a precedent Comcast and its cable and telecom brethren would rather not have, as they would prefer to manage their networks in any manner they see fit without directives from the FCC covering what kinds of management techniques are over the line.