Latest news

Journalist wins Brady source case

Freelance investigative Journalist, Robert Ackroyd has successfully defended a claim brought by Mersey Care NHS Trust for disclosure of his source for an article over Moors’ murderer Ian Brady.  In a judgment handed down today by Mr Justice Tugendhat,… Read More »

BNP Candidate refused permission to appeal

Mary Culnane, who lost her libel trial in November last year, has had her application for permission to appeal the jury verdict refused by the Court of Appeal. Mrs Culnane – who is reported to have now… Read More »

Wainwright declared admissible

The European Court of Human Rights has declared admissible the applications brought by Mary and Alan Wainwright under articles 3, 8 and 13 of the Convention concerning the circumstances in which they were strip-searched on a… Read More »

Performers gain moral rights

The Performances (Moral Rights, etc) Regulations 2006 come into force tomorrow, giving performers the right to be identified and the right to object to the derogatory treatment of their performances for the first time. The new… Read More »

Privacy supplement out now

The Second Cumulative Supplement of The Law of Privacy and the Media is published today and is available from Oxford University Press and all good bookstores. The Supplement fully updates the Main Work and is an essential purchase for all those who own… Read More »

Telegraph loses Galloway appeal

The Daily Telegraph has lost its appeal against the award of £150,000 libel damages to George Galloway MP by the High Court in December 2004.   Mr Galloway had successfully sued over articles in the newspaper, published in… Read More »

Ashley Cole appeal fails

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that the appeal filed by Arsenal and England footballer Ashley Cole is not admissible as it has no jurisdiction to rule on the dispute between Cole and the… Read More »

Proposals to strengthen IP Protection

A draft of the Intellectual Property (Enforcement, etc.) Regulations 2006 has been published by the Patent Office following a consultation last Autumn. The Regulations will bring into force the 2004 EU Directive on the enforcement… Read More »

PCC rejects Edmonds’ privacy complaint

The Press Complaints Commission has today rejected a complaint from Helen Edmonds, the ex-wife of television presenter Noel Edmonds, that the Mail on Sunday had intruded into her privacy by publishing the whereabouts of her new… Read More »

Source protection trial commences

Freelance journalist Robin Ackroyd today began his High Court defence to an action brought to compel him to identify a source for a story about Ian Brady published in the Daily Mirror in December 1999. The case raises important… Read More »

Inverdale stamping not deliberate

The Disciplinary Panel of the RFU has rejected allegations that John Inverdale, the TV commentator, was deliberately stamped on in a veterans match between Staines and Esher, whilst finding the player concerned guilty of recklessness…. Read More »

Musician Wins Privacy Claim

Mr Justice Eady today handed down judgment in the case of McKennitt v Ash [2005] EWHC 3003 (QB), a significant decision concerning the extent to which the courts will protect the personal information of a celebrity…. Read More »

Rowling Privacy Complaint upheld

The Daily Mirror has been criticised by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) for publishing a photograph of JK Rowling’s home. The PCC upheld a complaint from Rowling following publication of a picture of the author’s London home together with… Read More »

Trainer fined for destroying horse

The Jockey Club yesterday found trainer Evan Williams in breach of Rules 220 (iii) and 220 (viii) of the Rules of Racing  for having acted in a manner “prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct and good… Read More »

Artists to benefit from new resale right

Artists in the UK are soon to receive the benefit of a droit de suite, or artists’ resale right, for the first time. The new law will require them to be given a percentage of the sale price when their work is… Read More »

Trainer found guilty in corruption case

The Jockey Club Disciplinary Panel has imposed a 3-year disqualification on the trainer Shaun Keightley, and fined him £3,500.   In its decision, released on 14 December, the Panel found that as part of a… Read More »

Social workers fail in bid for anonymity

Mr Justice Ryder yesterday rejected an application by two social workers for an injunction to restrain them from being identified in a BBC documentary.   The application was brought after the BBC revealed that it… Read More »

BBC loses Qualified Privilege Defence

Mr Justice Gray ruled today that a BBC broadcast which accused a senior hospital manager, Mrs Marion Henry, of systematically falsifying waiting list figures, was not protected by qualified privilege, either at common law or… Read More »

Law for Journalists Conference 2005

The fourth annual Press Gazette Law for Journalists Conference 2005 took place 2 December 2005 in London.   The Conference, sponsored by Wiggin LLP and chaired by Philippa Kennedy from Press Gazette, saw keynote speeches from the Director… Read More »