It’s been a good four years but the controversy is far from over – having a federal appeals court reject the FCC’s $550,000 indecency fine against CBS for the Janet Jackson-generated “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl is perhaps just another chapter in the story.

“Wardrobe malfunction” – that is the term then-23-year-old Justin Timberlake found for Janet Jackson’s shocking nipple exposure at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show in 2004.

The two singers were performing intensely when Justin Timberlake reached over to Janet Jackson and ripped off part of her bustier. Her right breast was exposed to some 90 million viewers for a fraction of a second – but it was more than enough.

The incident created a mad furor, with many accusing the duo of staging the so-called accident in a quest to attract attention and brought arguments such as Janet Jackson’s nipple being covered with a large nipple shield and Timberlake coincidentally singing “I’m gonna have you naked by the end of this song” at the precise moment of the nipple slip.

After conducting an investigation, the Federal Communications Commission fined CBS $550,000 later that year, the largest ever against a television broadcaster at that time.

FCC fines per indecency violation were subsequently raised from $27,500 to $325,000.

A federal appeals court rejected the massive $550,000 indecency fine against CBS on Monday, ruling that the FCC “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” when it issued the fine.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the FCC fine for the “broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast” signified a departure from a “well-established course of action,” meaning its nearly 30 years of fining broadcast indecency only when it was extremely “pervasive.”

The appellate panel also said CBS should not be held financially accountable for the “acts of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, independent contractors hired for the limited purposes of the halftime show.”