This is our last weekly round up of the legal year. The Trinity Legal term will end on Tuesday 31 July 2018.  The summer legal vacation will run for 2 months with the Michaelmas Term beginning on Monday 1 October 2018.

The Cliff Richard case continues to dominate the media law news.  There was a further hearing in the case on Thursday 26 July 2018.  Mann J refused the BBC permission to appeal against his judgment in favour of the claimant.  The BBC agreed to make a payment on account of costs of £865,000. There were reports of this hearing in the Guardian and the Press Gazette.

Cearta.ie has a two part of analysis of Mann J’s judgment: Part 1, Police investigations and reasonable expectations of privacy and Part 2. Media speech and publication in the public interest.

Privacy International has reported on a recent finding of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal of which found that foreign secretaries illegally gave GCHQ overly extensive mandates to collect data.

Cearta.ie considers the implications of cases involving blocking injunctions resulting from the Sony v UPC and Cartier v BT case.

IPKat has a post on the extension of a live blocking order in favour of the Football Association Premier League. The original injunction was granted in the case of FAPL v BT [2017] EWHC 480 Ch.

Internet and Social Media                               

The Wall Street Journal [£] has posted on recent market movement away from social media users with investors responding to Facebooks announcement that it expected its growth to slow towards year-end. The Financial Times [£] also has coverage.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee is set to report on fake news in the context of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, BBC News has coverage.

The Guardian has an article considering how social media and the celebrity culture is “harming young people”.

Data Privacy and Data Protection

The Information Law and Policy Centre Blog has an article critiquing the ICO’s recent action fining Facebook £500,000 for its association with Cambridge Analytica and the consequent misuse of personal data for political purposes. The article considers how provisions introduced in the Data Protection Act 2018 may empower the Information Commissioner to better tackle data misuse. The IAPP has reviewed Facebook’s Q2 results and the ICO’s investigation following the issues faced by the social media giant around data protection.

Mishcon de Reya’s Data Matters Blog has analysed the importance of data in football and the consequential threat posed by cyber-attacks.

Hunton Andrews Kurth has published two papers on data protection from its Centre of Information Policy Leadership entitled “The Central Role of Organizational Accountability in Data Protection”.

Surveillance

The Economic Times has considered how the detriments of excessive data monitoring and how practices can lead to discrimination.

Newspapers, Journalism and Regulation

The Press Gazette reports that regulator Impress has extended its arbitration scheme to assist in the coverage of data protection claims.

IPSO

The IPSO Blog has two posts this week- one on raising standards through training and another on a conversation from Women’s Hour where Charlotte Dewar discusses paparazzi with Katie Price.

Rulings

IPSO has published three rulings from the Complaints Committee:

Statements in Open Court and Apologies

There were no statements in open court last week.

Last Week in the Courts

Nicola Davies J continued to hear the trial in the case of Piepenbrock v London School of Economics on 23, 24 and 27 July 2018 when the case was concluded.  Judgment was reserved.

On 24 July 2018, Nicklin J handed down judgment in the case of Higinbotham (formerly BWK) v Teekhungam & Anor [2018] EWHC 1880 (QB). There was a news item about this decision on the 5RB website.

On 25 July 2018, Warby J heard an application in the case of SWS v Department for Work and Pensions. The application was for an order that the claimant be permitted to read an anonymous statement in open court.

On 25 and 26 July 2018, the Court of Appeal (Sharp, Asplin LJJ and Sir Rupert Jackson) heard the appeal in the case of Kennedy v National Trust for Scotland.  Judgment was reserved.  We had a case comment on the first instance decision in January 2018.

On 26 July 2018 Nicklin J handed down judgement in the case of Alsaifi v Trinity Mirror Plc & Anor [2018] EWHC 1954 (QB).

On 27 July 2018, Warby J handed down judgment in the case of Sube v News Group Newspapers (No.2) [2018] EWHC 1961 (QB).  There was a case comment on the 5RB website.

Events

Please let us know if there are any media and law events which you would like us to list.

Media Law in Other Jurisdictions

Australia                                    

My Business has posted on an article entitled “understanding the minefield that is defamation”.

Canada

The Hugh Stephens Blog has a post entitled Fake News Comes to Canada: Misleading Headlines and Distortion of the Facts Regarding the Fight Against Copyright Infringement

Michael Geist has written a post highlighting details around the CTRC and the Bell Coalition’s approach to its website blocking lobbying.

Michael Geist has covered a Quebec Court’s ruling that the mandated blocking of gambling websites is unconstitutional.

India

The Hans India has posted an article on the recently proposed draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2018, highlighting concerns that the Bill seems to be making a move to protect the Governments’ controversial Aadhaar Project, which seeks to issue citizens’ with a 12-digit biometric-liked unique ID number. The validity of the Aadhaar Project is currently under consideration by the US Supreme Court.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has stated that the government has issued a notice to Whatsapp in a bid to hold social media companies accountable for misuse of the platforms.

Uganda

The Financial Times [£] has analysed responses to a new proposed “social media tax” and the implications for freedom of speech.

United States

The Washington Times reports that a judge has ordered a deposition by Fusion GPS in the libel case brought by Aleksej Gubarev against Buzzfeed.

The US Department of Justice is pushing forward with ongoing efforts to encrypt databases in a push to ensure adequate cybersecurity. This comes following the Department’s release of its “Cyber-Digital Task Force” Report, which Stanford’s Cyberlaw blog has analysed.

CNN has reported on some factual developments in Stormy Daniels ongoing defamation case against President Donald Trump. The article highlights latest efforts by Daniels’ lawyer to enter into settlement talks.

CNN Politics has covered recent efforts by the House Intelligence Committee to review largely un-redacted copies of surveillance-warrant applications relating to Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.

The Social Media Law Bulletin has posted on a matter of judicial ethics arising from the case U.S. v. Sierra Pacific Industries, Inc.. The case concerned the actions of a district court judge who, after denying the relief to the defendants, followed the prosecutors twitter account and tweeted a link to an incorrect news article implying the defendants were liable. The matter to be considered was whether the judge was obligated to recuse himself.

The Socially Aware Blog has posted on the case of Spanski Enterprises v. Telewizja Polska,, which concluded that a foreign website which hosted content infringing US copyright law did constitute an “infringing public performance” by providing US users the opportunity to view such content.

The National Law Review has posted on California’s recent amendment to defamation privilege laws, extending the doctrine to cover communications related to sexual harassment claims and investigations.

Research and Resources

Data Privacy and Data Protection

Next Week in the Courts

On 30 July 2018, the Court of Appeal (Master of the Rolls, Mcfarlane and Sharp LJJ) will hand down judgment in the case of Stunt v Associated Newspapers, (heard 19 and 20 June 2018).

On the same day Warby J will hand down judgment in the case of SWS v Department for Work and Pensions. 

Judgments

The following reserved judgments after public hearings in media law cases are outstanding:

Economou v Freitas, heard 17 and 18 April 2018 (Lewison, Ryder and Sharp LJJ)

Lloyd v Google LLC, heard 21 to 23 May 2018 (Warby J)

Bokova v Associated Newspapers Ltd, heard 8 June 2018 (Nicklin J)

Otuo v Watch Tower and Bible and Tract Society, heard 7 and 15 June 2018 (HHJ Parkes QC)

Seventy Thirty Ltd v Burki, heard 18 to 22 June 2018 (HHJ Parkes QC)

Monir v Wood, heard 16 to 19 April and 3 to 5 July 2018 (Nicklin J). 

Kennedy v National Trust for Scotland, heard 25 and 26 July 2018 (Sharp, Asplin LJJ and Sir Rupert Jackson).

Piepenbrock v London School of Economics, heard 16, 17, 20 23, 24 and 27 July 2018 (Nicola Davies J).

This Round Up was compiled by Suneet Sharma, a junior legal professional with a particular interest and experience in media law.