Cases

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

Held

Dismissing the appeal:

(1) The unresolved issues of fact relating to P’s practice in relation to others seeing his journals, and his general conduct in making public his views and seeking to influence executive action, were not such as to require a trial.

(2) The information was obviously both private and of a confidential nature, because of both the relationship within which it was disclosed and its nature. The manner in which P treated the journal did not affect this - no-one receiving it would have felt entitled to publish it without permission. The fact that there was a breach of a contractual duty of confidence was “a significant element to be weighed in the balance” between Articles 8 and 10. The test was not simply whether publication was in the public interest but whether it was in the public interest that the duty of confidentiality should be breached. It was not.

(3) The publication was an infringement of P’s copyright.

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