Month: October 2010 (Page 5 of 5)

On 1 October 2010 the singer Van Morrison was granted a privacy injunction against the “News of the World” by the High Court in Northern Ireland.   Mr Justice Gillen held that a proposed article and photographs went “beyond the margin or appreciation allowed to a free press“, describing them as an “unacceptable intrusion“.   The proposed article included details about Mr Morrison’s home, its value, layout and furnishing, together with the input into its management by businesswoman Gigi Lee. Continue reading

Gary Flitcroft

In the well known Gary Flitcroft case (A v. B plc [2003] QB 195) a married Premier League footballer failed in his attempt to obtain orders restraining a national newspaper from publishing stories about his sexual encounters with two women who wished to sell their stories. The decision of the Court of Appeal (Lord Woolf CJ, Laws and Dyson LJJ) has proved controversial in part.  However, much of the Judgment of the Court is orthodox and of continuing application and importance.  In particular, the explanation at [4] of the way in which the rights protected by Articles 8 and 10 have been absorbed into the long-established action for breach of confidence was approved by Lord Nicholls in Campbell v. MGN Limited [2004] 2 AC 457 at [17] Continue reading

On 22 September 2010 the Tate Modern staged an “art-law” symposium, in conjunction with its “Exposed” photography exhibition. The title of event was “Voyeurism, privacy, censorship & surveillance“.    It brought together lawyers and artists in the exhibition gallery with talks by Lord Hoffmann, artist Alison Jackson, Max Mosley and Henry Porter.   The discussion, chaired by Charles Haddon-Cave, ranged from privacy, via the nature of celebrity to the surveillance state.  The most interesting element, from the Inforrm point of view, was the discussion of privacy and the media by Lord Hoffmann and Mr Mosley. Continue reading