Media and Information Cases before the Appellate and European Courts in 2016 [Updated3]

There are a number of interesting cases in the field of media and information law to look forward to in 2016.  We list below the ones which have been drawn to our attention.  Please let us know if there are any further cases which should be added.

English Courts

There are two important media and information cases due to be heard by the UK Supreme Court this year:

• PNM v Times Newspapers, 6 April 2016. This case concerns an application for an injunction to restrain the publication of the name of a person arrested but not charged (see our post about the Court of Appeal decision).
• Vidal-Hall v Google Inc, 25 October 2016. The issue on this appeal is whether the Court of Appeal were right to disapply section 13(2) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (see our post about the Court of Appeal decision and our post about the grant of permission to appeal).

In addition, the Supreme Court has given the defendant permission to appeal in the case of Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd ([2014] EWCA Civ 1574).  It appears that the defendant is seeking to challenge the claimant’s CFA as being incompatible with Article 10 but we do not, at present, have any further details.

In addition, the unsuccessful defendants in two important privacy cases heard by the Court of Appeal in 2016 have announced that they are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

• Weller v Associated Newspapers ([2015] EWCA Civ 1176). This concerns the publication of paparazzi photographs of children taken in California (see our post on the Court of Appeal decision).
• Representative Claimants v MGN ([2015] EWCA Civ 1291). This concerns the awards of damages made in the Mirror Phone Hacking litigation (see our post on the Court of Appeal decision).

Decisions concerning permission are unlikely to be made for several months and, if granted, appeals may not be heard until 2017.

[Update]  Judgment is awaited in two important cases concerning the media which were heard by the Court of Appeal in 2015:

• R v Incedal, head by the Court of Appeal on 12 and 13 October 2015.
• R (on the application of David Miranda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, heard by the Court of Appeal on 8 and 9 December 2015.

There are a number of appeals pending before the Court of Appeal in England and Wales which will be heard in 2016:

• Leslie v News Group Newspapers listed on 3 or 4 February 2016
• Cartier International v British Sky Broadcasting, listed for 13 and 14 April 2016.
• Simpson v Mirror Group Newspapers, listed 24 or 25 May 2016.
• His Highness Prince Moulay Hicham Ben Abdullah Al Alaoui of Morocco v Elaph Publish Limited, listed on 29 or 30 November 2016.

An application for permission to appeal in the case of Lachaux v Independent Print (see our post here) is pending before the Court of Appeal.  If permission is granted then the appeal is likely to be heard in the autumn of 2016.

We understand that the defendant is seeking permission to appeal on costs in case of Theedom v Nourish Training Ltd.

European Court of Human Rights

The decision in the important Article 10 “access to information case” of Magyar Helsinki Bizottság v Hungary (no.18030/11), heard by the Grand Chamber on 4 November 2015 is likely to be handed down in the first half of 2016.

There is a closely related United Kingdom case which has been communicated, Times Newspapers Limited and Kennedy v. The United Kingdom – 64367/14 [2015] ECHR 359 (17 March 2015).  This follows the decision of the Supreme Court in Kennedy v Charity Commission ([2014] UKSC 20) (see our post).

There are three United Kingdom cases concerning surveillance pending before the Court:

• Big Brother Watch v United Kingdom, 58170/13 [2014] ECHR 93 (Communicated 9 January 2014)
• Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Alice Ross v. The United Kingdom – 62322/14 –[2015] ECHR 71 (Communicated, 05 January 2015)
• 10 Human Rights Organisations v United Kingdom, 24960/15, Communicated 24 November 2015.

There is one United Kingdom libel case pending before the Court

• Tamiz v Google Inc, 3877/14, Communicated 15 December 2015.

[Update2]  Judgment is expected in 2016 one United Kingdom freedom of expression case

• Gaunt v United Kingdom, 26448/12, Communicated 4 March 2014, written observations concluded and no hearing (see our post on the domestic decision in July 2010).

European Union

A number of interesting cases are pending before the CJEU:

• Site blocking issues referred by the Dutch Supreme Court in C-610/15 Pirate Bay.
• The mere conduit and injunction provisions of the ECommerce Directive, referred by a German court in Case 484/14 McFadden.
• Questions arising out of the challenge by David Davis and Tom Watson to the data retention provisions of DRIPA referred to the CJEU by the Court of Appeal. A reference from the Swedish courts (C-203/15 Tele2 Sverige) is also pending.

For a post covering some of the above and also other Internet Legal developments to look out for in 2016, on Graham Smith’s Cyberleagle blog