Latest news

Channel 4 has been cleared over this summer’s Big Brother race row after Ofcom ruled that the broadcaster was right to show student Emily Parr using the word “nigger” in a conversation with other housemates because… Read More »

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ordered four police forces to delete old criminal convictions from the Police National Computer. The ICO ruled that retention of old convictions is contrary to the principles of the Data… Read More »

Channel Four has been ordered to hand over eye-witness accounts gathered for a documentary into the paparazzi involvement in the Diana crash to the Inquest being conducted by Lord Justice Scott-Baker. The C4 documentary, The Witnesses in the Tunnel broadcast… Read More »

In an important trade mark, copyright and passing off decision, the High Court decided today that, 40 years after England’s historic 1966 World Cup win, the Football Association could prevent pretenders from registering the tournament mascot ‘World… Read More »

Trinity Mirror and Newsquest are appealing against an order under s.11 of the Contempt of Court Act which prohibits publication of the identity of a man who pleaded guilty to 20 charges of making and possessing indecent… Read More »

The Court of Appeal today allowed the appeal of journalist Graeme McLagan against the dismissal of his qualified privilege defence in a libel action brought by a former police officer over the book Bent Coppers…. Read More »

The Bar Council has announced its officers for 2008 and Joint-Head of 5RB, Desmond Browne QC has been elected as Vice-Chairman of the Bar.   Desmond Browne has been Chairman of the Bar Council’s Working… Read More »

5RB is pleased to announce that Matthew Nicklin has been named Defamation & Privacy Junior Barrister of the Year at the annual Chambers & Partners Bar Awards.    The awards, hosted by barrister and broadcaster Clive Anderson, were presented… Read More »

Media regulator Ofcom has today fined GMTV a record £2,000,000 for misconduct in viewer phone-in competitions between August 2003 and February 2007. In its ruling, Ofcom said the case “involved the widespread and systematic deception… Read More »

The annual Legal 500 review of the legal profession has named 5RB as a leading set for Defamation & Privacy, Media & Entertainment Law and Intellectual Property.   5RB came equal top in Defamation & Privacy, with the independent survey noting the set’s “knowledge… Read More »

The Media Law Resource Centre, returns to London from 16-19 September 2007, for its annual conference which will take place at Stationers’ Hall. The not-for-profit organisation was founded by US media organisations to monitor developments… Read More »

Hypnotist Paul McKenna today lost his bid for indemnity costs in his libel action against the Daily Mirror over false allegations that he had obtained a PhD from an “obscure degrees-by-post establishment in Louisiana” in an… Read More »

The BBC and the company behind the Richard and Judy premium rate telephone quiz have both been fined by their respective regulators after investigations into telephone competition irregularities. Ofcom, the media regulator, fined the BBC £50,000 after… Read More »

5RB has been ranked in the Financial Times list of the top Innovative Lawyers for 2007. The survey, published today, praised 5RB and other winners for their “willingness to take proactive steps to respond to business pressures and to… Read More »

Three people wrongly accused of murder settled their civil actions against the Chief Constable of Northumbria today after the police accepted they were innocent and paid damages and costs.   Joanne Morgan, Ian Morgan and… Read More »

The couple in the high-profile care case of Norfolk County Council v Webster learned today that they can keep their fourth child. The Council is dropping its case to take the boy, Brandon, into care.  … Read More »

Ofcom has today fined Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd £300,000 for breaches of the Broadcasting Code in the transmission of the phone-in quiz programme, Brainteaser. This is the largest financial penalty the regulator has imposed on… Read More »

The defendant at the centre of a privacy row involving photographs of Harry Potter author, J. K. Rowling’s son, has gone to the High Court this week to try and strike out his claim.   Over three days… Read More »

A Scotland Yard staff member has pleaded guilty to “wilful misconduct in a judicial or public office” for leaking secret documents to the Sunday Times that led to an article on April 22 claiming that Iraq-based… Read More »

A jury has awarded Labour MP Martyn Jones £5,000 in damages arising from the publication of an allegation in the Mail on Sunday that he repeatedly swore at a House of Commons security guard upon being… Read More »