Year: 2006

Adidas can use logo at Wimbledon

Adidas has succeeded in its application for an interim injunction against the organisers of the four Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments and will be allowed to use its 3-stripe design on players’ clothing at Wimbledon. The Grand Slam Committee… Read More »

ECJ rules on airline data case

The European Court of Justice has ruled that an agreement struck two years ago between the European Commission and the United States which enables US authorities to obtain and process personal data of US-bound European airline passengers… Read More »

Boris Berezovsky wins £50,000

A High Court jury in London today awarded Russian tycoon and political campaigner, Boris Berezovsky £50,000 in libel damages for a false claim that he habitually threatened people.   The Defendants, Mikhail Fridman and his… Read More »

£100,000 damages for Sir Elton John

In a statement in open court read today Associated Newspapers apologised to Sir Elton John, having paid him £100,000 in damages. Sir Elton John today accepted £100,000 libel damages, and payment of his legal costs,… Read More »

FIFA climbdown on doping regulations

FIFA’s President has agreed that football will bring its rules on doping into line with those of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Sepp Blatter, the President of FIFA, has indicated that the rule changes would be… Read More »

Judge calls for libel and privacy reform

A senior Court of Appeal judge yesterday called for a tough new independent regulator for newspapers and claimed that the law of libel  “over-protects personal reputation at the expense of free speech”. Giving a lecture at Oxford University, Lord Justice Sedley was critical… Read More »

BNP candidates lose libel claim

Two British National Party general election candidates have today lost their libel action over an article published in anti-fascist magazine Searchlight. Eady J held that the article was privileged under the doctrine of reportage established… Read More »

Afghan Hijackers name ban lifted

The High Court today overturned an order preventing the press from identifying nine Afghans who hijacked an airliner in Afghanistan and held its occupants at gunpoint for four days at Stansted Airport in 2000.   Following a… Read More »

Call for jail terms for data thieves

The Information Commissioner today called for prison sentences of up to two years for the illegal buying and selling of personal information. In a report to Parliament entitled “What Price Privacy?” he states his “deep concern… Read More »

Trainer’s bid to overturn race result fails

Judge hands down second judgment –  this time having reviewed the decisions of the domestic bodies in private law proceedings. The trainer Willie Mullins sought to challenge a 2004 decision by the Appeal Board of the Jockey Club,… Read More »

Beatles iTunes challenge fails

The surviving Beatles and the estates of George Harrison and John Lennon have lost the latest installment of the dispute over Apple Computer’s use of a logo depicting an apple. The Beatles, who established their… Read More »

Ex-Formula 1 boss awarded £75,000

Tony Purnell, former Principal of the Jaguar Racing formula one team, has been awarded £75,000 libel damages by a jury at the High Court in London.    The libel was published in Business F1 magazine which is owned and… Read More »

The Lawyer apologises for judgment leak

The Lawyer magazine will print a front page apology for breaking an embargo on the judgment in the recent Da Vinci Code copyright case. The magazine published the result of the case one hour before Peter… Read More »

Da Vinci judge creates own code

After the Da Vinci Code, the Smithy Code.  In what is almost certainly an unprecedented step for a High Court judge, Peter Smith J inserted a secret code into his judgment in the copyright infringement… Read More »

Trainer’s appeal fails

Racehorse trainer Shaun Keightley has failed in his attempt to overturn the ban from racing imposed on him by the Disciplinary Panel of The Jockey Club (now the Horseracing Regulatory Authority).   In December, the… Read More »

News Group pays £100k to Rooney

Manchester United and England footballer Wayne Rooney has accepted £100,000 damages from the publishers of The Sun and The News of the World after the newspapers falsely alleged that he slapped his fiancée, Coleen McLoughlin…. Read More »

Da Vinci Code win for Dan Brown

The copyright infringement claim made against the publishers of the Da Vinci Code has been dismissed by the High Court today. The claim was brought by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of the 1982 book The Holy… Read More »

‘Fake Sheikh’ faces exposure by MP

The News of World has failed in its efforts to prevent George Galloway from puiblishing pictures of its top investigative journalist on the Internet. The paper went to the High Court yesterday not as Defendant but as Claimant, to apply for an injunction to prevent… Read More »

Aussie Rules anti-doping results remain private

The Australian Football League and its players association, representing three footballers who failed a drugs test, has won an extension to an injunction preventing the media from disclosing their identities. The AFL and the AFL… Read More »

Prince fails to stop journals’ trial

The Prince of Wales’s legal case against the Mail on Sunday should go forward to a full trial, the High Court ruled today.   The Prince brought the case after the newspaper published extracts from his journal on the Hong… Read More »