Lords hear Douglas wedding photos dispute

JUST a few days after Hollywood superstars Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary, the court battle over the pictures of their big day went to House of Lords.

Five Law Lords agreed to look again at the case in which the Douglases and celebrity magazine OK! sued its rival, Hello! over pictures taken secretly at the New York wedding in November 2000.

OK! had signed a £1,000,000 deal with the Douglases for exclusive coverage of the celebrations at the Plaza Hotel, but Hello! came out with their own version at the same time.

Media lawyers say that if OK! wins by successfully arguing there was a right of confidentiality, then a new law protecting the image of person would have been created in this country.

The Douglases and OK! won at the High Court in April 2003 but awards of costs and damages totalling £2 million were quashed after Hello! successfully appealed in May 2005.

Richard Millett QC, representing OK!, told a panel of five Law Lords that it had been established that the exclusive was an “extremely valuable” asset to his clients.

He said the Douglases, who were no longer involved in the case, were more interested in the deal to preserve their confidentiality than to make money.