Cases

The Author of a Blog v Times Newspapers Ltd

Held

The information that the Claimant was the author of the blog did not have about it the necessary quality of confidence as contemplated by Coco v A N Clark (Engineers) Ltd [1969] RPC 41 and nor did it qualify as information in respect of which the Claimant had a reasonable expectation of privacy, since blogging is a public activity. Further, even if the Claimant had had a prima facie right to protect his identity, this would be likely to be outweighed at trial by a countervailing public interest in this case, namely the revelation to the public that a particular police officer had been making these communications. That would assist the public in assessing the value of the opinions expressed by the blog and in coming to their own conclusions about whether it is desirable for serving officers to communicate such matters publicly, whether or not that is an infringement of relevant police disciplinary regulations. Accordingly the injunction was refused.

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