In a draft judgment by Lord Phillips MR handed down yesterday and now available on Lawtel (the final version is expected next month), the Court of Appeal emphatically upheld the first instance decision of Mr Justice Blackburne granting summary judgment to the Prince of Wales for breach of confidence and copyright infringement in his private … Read more
One of the world’s leading independent music publishers, Peer Music (“Peer”), has tried and failed to persuade the English court to declare that it is the owner of the entire UK copyrights in thirteen songs composed by six Cuban composers, all of whom are dead. Peer claimed its rights under original agreements entered into in … Read more
Animal Defenders International (ADI) is a non-charitable organisation which campaigns against the use of animals in commerce, science and leisure. ADI submitted a TV script to the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) as part of a campaign called “My Mate’s a Primate” against the use of primates for the purpose of public entertainment in places … Read more
O2 sued H3G for trade mark infringement over a TV commercial comparing H3G’s prices with O2’s which included animated bubbles similar to bubble trade marks registered by O2. O2’s infringement claims were rejected by the High Court, as reported in our April 2006 bulletin. O2 appealed (as did H3G on one element of the High … Read more
After a hearing before Mr Justice Eady on 15 November, generating a judgment on 4 December, an adulterer has been granted an interim injunction against the husband of the woman with whom he had an affair, preventing the husband (inter alia) from selling the story to the press. The legal background Human rights lawyers have … Read more
In light of the imminent Zeta-Jones & Douglas v Hello decision of the House of Lords in relation to the law of privacy (expected in January 2007), privacy has never been such a hot topic. The UK courts have yet to rule that there is a free-standing law of privacy. Will this recent European Court … Read more
