Latest news

The Supreme Court of New South Wales has ordered a former employee of SMEC Holdings Ltd to pay $1.6 million damages (£681,600) to the company and three of its directors. Glen Boniface denied being responsible… Read More »

The BBC has upheld complaints against an edition of its flagship current affairs series Panorama about the health hazards caused by Wi-Fi. The programme, Wi-Fi: A Warning Signal, broadcast on BBC1 in May, explored whether the… Read More »

The Second Supplement to the Tenth Edition of Gatley on Libel and Slander is now available.   Gatley is the definitive work on the law and procedure of libel and slander. The supplement includes all… Read More »

Matthew Nicklin has been appointed to the Bar Standards Board, the independent body of the Bar Council responsible for regulating barristers.   The Bar Standards Board (“BSB”) was established by the Bar Council in January 2006… Read More »

Last night Withers LLP hosted a launch party for a new work – The Trials of Art – edited by Daniel McClean of Withers LLP with a foreword by Lord Hoffmann. The book is published by Ridinghouse… Read More »

A journalist with the German weekly magazine Stern has won an important victory in the European Court of Human Rights in relation to protection of sources.   In February and March 2002, the journalist, Hans Tillack, published two articles in… Read More »

The Daily Mail has paid “substantial damages” in an out-of-court settlement with former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and his wife Cherie after the newspaper published photographs of the Blairs on holiday in the Caribbean.   The Blairs complained that… Read More »

A vet’s appeal against his removal from the register of veterinary surgeons by a Disciplinary Committee of the RCVS was today allowed by the Privy Council, and a penalty of six months substituted in its place.   Dr Alan… Read More »

The Wiltshire Gazette & Herald has been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay legal costs after identifying a child in breach of an order under s.39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. The newspaper,… Read More »

Christian Voice, an evangelical group, has launched judicial review proceedings of a magistrates’ court decision not to prosecute the BBC and the theatrical producers of Jerry Springer – The Opera for blasphemous libel. The controversial stage… Read More »

Broadcasting regulator Ofcom has today dismissed all complaints against Channel 4 Dispatches programme Undercover Mosque, including a claim by West Midlands Police that the programme had misrepresented the views of Muslim preachers and clerics through misleading editing. As… Read More »

Northern Rock plc last night obtained a short term injunction against the Financial Times and other media organisations preventing any further disclosure of a leaked briefing memorandum prepared by the bank’s advisers and provided to… Read More »

A French court has ruled that the Wikipedia Foundation, the US-based organisation that runs Wikipedia, the free user-generated internet encyclopedia, is not liable for defamatory content posted on the site by anonymous third parties. Three… Read More »

Mohamed Taranissi, statistically the UK‘s most successful fertility doctor, has reached an agreement to settle his libel claim against the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). Former chief executive Angela McNab had claimed on a… Read More »

Mr Justice Eady today awarded Rashid Ghannouchi £165,000 damages for allegations that he was an Islamic extremist with links to Al Qaeda who deserved to be expelled from the UK.   The allegations were published by… Read More »

The annual Chambers & Partners review of the legal profession has named 5RB as a leading set for Defamation & Privacy and Media & Entertainment Law and a notable set for Intellectual Property and Sports Law.   5RB came equal top in Defamation & Privacy, with the independent… Read More »

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 »