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20
November 2006
Lords
Hear Catherine
Zeta-Jones Wedding Photo
Case
The
court battle between OK!
and Hello! magazines
over pictures of
Catherine
Zeta-Jones
's
wedding to Michael
Douglas has arrived at
the House of
Lords.
OK!
successfully petitioned
to take the case higher
after the Court of
Appeal ordered them to
pay back £2m to
Hello!
OK!
paid for exclusive
coverage of the
celebrity wedding in New
York in November 2000,
but Hello! published
unofficial "spoiler"
photographs.
OK!
was awarded damages in
2003, but the ruling was
overturned last
year.
In
November 2003, a judge
awarded damages of
£1,033,156 to OK!
after ruling that
Hello!'s publication of
wedding photos had
caused commercial damage
to OK!
But
Hello!, who admitted it
had used the snatched
photos to spoil their
rival's exclusive
coverage, successfully
challenged the court
order in May
2005.
Hello!
argued that "spoilers"
were a well-known tactic
in the newspaper and
magazine
industry.
Lord
Philips upheld the
Hello! appeal, ruling
that its publication of
the photographs had not
breached OK!'s
commercial
rights.
The
Court of Appeal ordered
OK! to pay back damages,
costs and interest
amounting to nearly
£2m.
The
Court of Appeal also
told OK! to make an
interim payment of
£600,000 towards
Hello!'s legal
bill.
Hello!'s
appeal against the
damages awarded to Zeta
Jones and Douglas was
dismissed.
The
Hollywood couple was
awarded £14,600
after Zeta Jones told
the court she felt
"devastated" and
"violated" when she
discovered
"unflattering" paparazzi
pictures had been
taken.
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