Feel free to curse

Court says on air "impromptu" expletives are OK.

The case specifically involved two Fox broadcasts, and other networks joined in the lawsuit.

At issue has been a series of unscripted obscenities, including the f-word and s-word, uttered in recent years by such performers as Bono, Cher and Nicole Richie during live awards shows. Networks argued they shouldn't be punished when an expletive slips through their safeguards.

Broadcasters have felt increasingly under siege after the exposing of singer Janet Jackson's right breast during the live halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl, which CBS executives claimed caught them off guard. The resulting uproar helped prompt Congress last year to approve a tenfold increase in fines that boosts the maximum penalty for a violation to $325,000.