OK! wins Douglases' wedding pictures case
3 May 07
But OK! and Hello! must split £8m legal fees accumulated
The celebrity magazine OK! has won its battle with rival magazine Hello! over the publication of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones' wedding pictures.
Yesterday, the House of Lords ruled that Hello! had breached OK!'s confidentiality when it published unauthorised pictures of the couple's wedding in 2000. The Douglases had been paid £1 million by OK! for the exclusive rights to the photographs. The pictures used by Hello! had been taken by a photographer posing as a waiter or guest at the wedding.
Three out of five law lords agreed with OK!, but also ruled that Hello! had not knowingly injured OK!'s business - meaning that the two magazines will have to split the £8m legal costs.
The majority decision retores the High Court award in OK!'s favour of April 2003, which was overturned in 2005 by the Court of Appeal in May 2005.
Before the Lords, Hello! had argued that any confidentiality ceased after OK! published its own photographs of the wedding. The judges commented that this ignored the commercial realities of the situation.
Lord Hoffmann, who gave the leading judgment, was supported by Baroness Hale of Richmond and Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood. Lords Nicholls of Birkenhead and Walker of Gestingthorpe dissented.
The decision can be read at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldjudgmt/jd070502/obg-1.htm.