Latest news

A petition brought by Christian Voice, an evangelical Christian organisation, seeking to overturn a High Court ruling preventing a private blasphemous libel prosecution against the BBC and theatrical producers of Jerry Springer – The Opera… Read More »

The Defendant in a libel claim brought by the husband of the daughter of the former King of Romania has today been granted permission to appeal against a finding that the publication was not protected… Read More »

The High Court trial of the libel action brought by a former spokesman for the head of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales against Associated Newspapers over an article in the Daily Mail has ended with the jury being unable to… Read More »

Lord Falconer yesterday called for action to be taken to reduce the risk of news articles written before the commencement of criminal trials influencing their outcomes. He proposed that publishers should be made to remove archived pages which contain prejudicial material… Read More »

The practice of including watermarks, usually in the form of tiny, barely visible yellow dots, on documents produced by common computer printers may be unlawful, according to Franco Frattini, the vice-president of the European Commission. The ‘forensic… Read More »

Five witnesses who gave evidence for former Scottish Socialist party leader Tommy Sheridan in his libel victory against the News of the World in August 2006 have been charged with perjury. The MSP’s wife Gail… Read More »

A Birmingham pharmacist has failed in the slander claim he had brought against a fellow member of his Sikh Community Centre.   The two men were members of the Ravidassia Sikh Community Centre in Darlaston, Birmingham. At… Read More »

Kaupthing Bank, its Executive Chairman, Sigurdur Einarsson, and two subsidaries have settled their libel action against the Danish newspaper, Ekstra Bladet. The companies and Mr Einarsson brought proceedings over a series of articles in English and… Read More »

Lawyers acting for one of the principal defence witnesses in a libel case due to be tried next week have obtained an order that her identity must be protected from disclosure when she gives evidence…. Read More »

5RB hosted its annual charity pub quiz at the Bung Hole yesterday evening, to raise funds for the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the Free Representation Unit (FRU). Teams from leading media organisations and solicitors firms entered the competition… Read More »

The Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed Lisa Jeynes’s appeal against Eady J’s order striking out her case against News Group Newspapers and News Group Magazines Limited.   Miss Jeynes, a former Big Brother contestant, had complained… Read More »

Two British National Party general election candidates who lost a libel action over an article published in anti-fascist magazine Searchlight have today been refused permission to appeal to the House of Lords. Eady J held in… Read More »

Low cost airline Ryanair have been sued by French President Sarkozy and his girlfriend Carla Bruni over an advert placed in the French media on the same day as the airline dismissed the UK advertising… Read More »

5RB’s Stephen Bate has become the first practising barrister to join CEDR’s Solve Direct mediator panel, a service which allows mediation users to enter into direct deals with selected mediators, with back-up services and quality… Read More »

The Press Complaints Commission has rejected a complaint brought against the Daily Record from Paul Ferris, who was described by the paper as a “gangster”, and his partner Carolyn Cunningham, over the reporting of the… Read More »

Proposed legislation in the New York State legislature would prevent individuals who had obtained libel judgments in more claimant-friendly jurisdictions, such as England and Wales, from enforcing them in the state.   The proposed legislation, introduced by Senate Deputy… Read More »

Actress Sienna Miller has obtained default judgment in her privacy action against Warren Richardson, the photographer who took nude photos of her on a closed film set.   The “highly intrusive” pictures of Miss Miller… Read More »

The Press Complaints Commission has reported a 31% rise in complaints during 2007. The self-regulatory body received 4,320 complaints last year, including 485 complaints about a Daily Mirror comment piece on the McCanns, and 143… Read More »

Seven national newspaper groups have challenged a bid to have parts of the trial of the man accused of murdering writer Allan Chappelow heard in private. The unusual secrecy order would allow witnesses at the trial of… Read More »

The Government has proposed allowing private copying of music and films, allowing parodies of copyright works and relaxing copying restrictions for schools and libraries in a major intellectual property consultation. The process is intended to implement many of… Read More »