> As many comments point out in this thread, legally the trial and the judicial decision had little to do with the NEL.
That's not in dispute.
> Therefore, in the counterfactual where the NEL had not been part of the dispute, the publishers would have still won their case
That fact that they brought the case does have a lot to do with NEL. Timeline-wise, it's clear NEL triggered the case. The HN crowd breeds a binary "yes/no" mentality, but real world businesses decisions, especially legal ones, take many things into account.
That's not in dispute.
> Therefore, in the counterfactual where the NEL had not been part of the dispute, the publishers would have still won their case
That fact that they brought the case does have a lot to do with NEL. Timeline-wise, it's clear NEL triggered the case. The HN crowd breeds a binary "yes/no" mentality, but real world businesses decisions, especially legal ones, take many things into account.