Noncommercial drone operators will no longer have to register with the Federal Aviation Administration after a court ruled on Friday that its imposition of registration in December 2015 was in breach of existing laws.

The case, brought by model aircraft enthusiast John Taylor in January 2016, argued that the FAA’s introduction of drone registration for drones less than 55 pounds and heavier than a half-pound ran contrary to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act. It passed in Congress in 2012 and included a section that states that the FAA “may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft.”

“The FAA’s Registration Rule violates Section 336 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act,” the Federal Court in Washington D.C. ruled. “We grant Taylor’s petition for review of the Registration Rule, and we vacate the Registration Rule to the extent it applies to model aircraft.”

According to Recode, the drone industry itself didn’t welcome the decision, instead arguing that the imposition of registration was actually a positive for the industry. “The FAA’s innovative approach to drone registration was very reasonable, and registration provides for accountability and education to drone pilots,” Dà-Jiāng Innovations Science and Technology Co. Ltd.’s Brendan Schulman said in a statement. “I expect the legal issue that impedes this program will be addressed by cooperative work between the industry and policymakers.”

More than 820,000 people are believed to have been registered to fly drones since the requirement was put in place with the finding now removing that requirement, but for how long isn’t known with the FAA said to be considering ways in which it can reimpose the registration requirement legally in the future.

Ways open to the FAA include appealing the decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals or appealing to Congress to change the law as it currently stands, such as through the insertion of provisions to support noncommercial drone registration during its annual reauthorization process.

The latter option was mentioned in the court ruling, with the judges noting that “Congress is of course always free to repeal or amend its 2012 prohibition on FAA rules regarding model aircraft … Perhaps Congress should do so. Perhaps not. In any event, we must follow the statute as written.”

Photo: deepfrozen/Flickr