Verdict due in January in Sunday Tribune lookalike case

A judge will give a verdict next month on whether The Irish Mail on Sunday broke consumer protection laws by publishing 26,000 Sunday Tribune lookalike editions.

Associated Newspapers Ireland, publishers of the Irish Mail on Sunday, has faced a trial at Dublin District Court for breaching consumer protection laws. The newspaper group has pleaded not guilty to six charges.

Last month, Judge Conal Gibbons heard evidence over two days, and then submissions from lawyers for the National Consumer Agency (NCA) and Associated Newspapers Ireland.

Today, he told counsel for both the NCA and Associated Newspapers Ireland that he would give his verdict on January 25 next.

The consumer watchdog brought the case after complaints by readers who bought the “special edition” on February 6 last thinking they had purchased the Sunday Tribune, days after it went into receivership.

A receiver was appointed to the loss-making Sunday Tribune on February 1 and two days later a decision was made not to bring out a final edition on February 6.

The Irish Mail on Sunday then distributed 26,000 “special editions” to shops on the east coast. They featured a “wraparound” cover with a heading saying “a special edition designed for readers of the Sunday Tribune”.

The defunct paper's editor Noirin Hegarty has told the court that the edition in question looked like the Sunday Tribune.

Associated Newspapers Ireland have argued that the case was brought following “a media fire-storm”.

Five people had also given evidence saying they had been deceived by buying the edition.

Counsel for the NCA had submitted that the defendant clearly intended in a “carefully executed plan” to deceive the consumer.

Associated Newspapers Ireland face six charges and could be fined up €18,000 and have to pay the NCA's legal costs if found guilty.