Cases

HRH The Prince of Wales v Associated Newspapers Ltd (No 3)

Facts

D published extracts from a journal written by C about his official visit to Hong Kong in 1997 which it had obtained from a confidential source, together with 7 other journals. C complained of breach of confidence and copyright, and applied for summary judgment in respect of all 8 journals. D opposed the application on the grounds that there were a number of triable issues and summary judgment was inappropriate in a case which raised novel issues in a developing area of the law. D argued that the C had not treated his journals as secret and what it published was political speech relating to the views of an heir to the throne, who had departed from constitutional convention by involvement in politics. D submitted, in view of this: (1) C had no reasonable expectation of privacy and/or (2) his privacy claims should yield to the public interest in freedom of expression on political issues; (3) there had been fair dealing with the copyright material for the purpose of criticism/review.

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