While a defence that protesters could have been justified in harassing employees of the company to stop a war crime being committed was rejected by the court in a preliminary issues trial of November 2005, on the grounds that such crimes could not be prevented over a long term, but only in immediate actions to stop imminent and specific crimes, the court accepted that a further defense argument should be open. This was that if the protesters could show they were acting reasonably in the circumstances on the basis of an objective evidential test, then there was a defence that any harassment, if it had taken place, could be lawful.