Daily Gossip
by Jennifer Pinner
Catherine’s photo saga continues in court
Time seems to have flown by since Hollywood couple Catherine Zeta- Jones and Michael Douglas tied the knot in 2000.
 But, for the Douglas’s, a drawn out
court battle is still continuing between themselves and two top-selling
celebrity magazines, Hello! and OK!, concerning photographs that were taken
on the day.
nuts4chic can exclusively reveal that the two celebrity publications are due
to meet on 20th November in England’s highest court for the final round in
this unremitting legal battle.
It is a case that will help establish how far individuals are protected
against media intrusion and the House of Lords must decide if OK!, which had
a deal to buy exclusive rights to the wedding pictures of the movie stars
but was trumped by unauthorised shots in Hello!, is entitled to compensation.
Even though OK! magazine was originally awarded damages of ?1 million, this
was taken away by the Court of Appeal and it is this movement which is now
being challenged before the law lords.
It could be one of the most expensive celebrity court battles against a
magazine and legal experts claim that nearly six million pounds are at stake
in this case because of legal costs over the past three years, which have
mounted up.
Douglas and Zeta-Jones will not be in court for the hearings, at which
lawyers are expected to argue over whether by publishing the unauthorised
pictures, Hello! was guilty of “economic tort” by depriving OK! of sales.
The case also raises the question of whether publication of the unauthorised
photographs amounted to a breach of a confidence shared by the couple and
OK!
Hello!'s lawyers are expected to argue that this would create a new law of
“image rights” not recognised previously under English law.
It seems that because of the supremacy that celebrities are being given
these days, a court case is more likely to conclude in their favour. In the
past, celebrities have been favoured over the media on quite a few
occasions.
There were two that were most memorable: In 1994, Naomi Campbell’s rights were felt to have been breached by law lords when a newspaper ran a story saying, correctly, that Naomi had visited Narcotics Anonymous. In the
same year, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Germany for failing
to stop press photos of Princess Caroline of Monaco, which it said violated her right to respect for private life.
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See Also:
Paris Hilton 
Cat Deeley
Nicole Richie
Kate Winslet
Britney Spears
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