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BCL Law Notes Commercial Remedies BCL Notes

Douglas V. Hello! Ltd. Notes

Updated Douglas V. Hello! Ltd. Notes

Commercial Remedies BCL Notes

Commercial Remedies BCL

Approximately 497 pages

These are detailed case summaries (excerpts from cases - not paraphrased) I made during the Oxford BCL for the Commercial Remedies course....

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Douglas v. Hello! Ltd.

Facts

On 18 November 2000, Mr Douglas and Ms Zeta-Jones, who were and are very well known film stars, were married at the Plaza Hotel, New York. As soon as the couple's engagement was announced in early 2000, there was intense interest in this event from certain sections of the media; in particular, from the publishers of "OK!" and "Hello!" magazines.

The Douglases decided, with a view to reducing what Ms Zeta-Jones called "the media frenzy", that they would grant that right to one publisher. According to Mr Douglas, they regarded this course as "the best way to control the media and to protect our privacy". After some negotiations, they entered into a contract with OK! ("the OK! contract") on 10 November, eight days before the wedding.

By clause 6, the Douglases were to hire a photographer at their own expense "to take colour photographs of the wedding ('the photographs')". They also agreed to "use their best efforts to ensure that no other media... shall be permitted access to the wedding, and that no guests or anyone present at the wedding ... shall be allowed to take photographs".

The guests began arriving at the hotel at about 7.30 in the evening of 18 November. There were speeches, entertainers, music, and dancing. The cake was cut at midnight, and the reception ended around 5.30 on the morning of 19 November. Although the event appeared to have been an unqualified success, it transpired that a paparazzo, Mr Rupert Thorpe, had infiltrated the reception, and surreptitiously taken photographs, including some of the bride and groom (together and separately). How this happened has still not been explained, at least in these proceedings.

Mr Ramey immediately approached potential purchasers, including Hello! Negotiations between Mr Ramey, in California, and Ms Sue Neal, then employed by Hello! as a picture editor in London, were quickly concluded. At some point during 19 November, with the authority of her superiors in Madrid, Ms Neal agreed to pay 125,000 for the exclusive right to publish the unauthorised photographs in "Hello!" magazine in the UK, and in its sister publications in Spain and in France. The judge had little difficulty in concluding that both Mr Ramey and Hello! would, or at least ought to, have known of the OK! contract, and of the sort of terms it would have included (in particular, with regard to exclusivity), as well as of the elaborate security procedures to prevent intrusion and unauthorised photography at the reception.

The staff of "Hello!" magazine then started to prepare for the next edition on the basis that it would include the unauthorised photographs. Meanwhile, OK! learnt that unauthorised photographs had been taken and were on the market. The Douglases were informed, and were, according to their evidence, not surprisingly "shocked". On learning that Hello! had bought, and were intending to publish, the unauthorised photographs, the Douglases and OK! applied for, without notice to Hello!, and obtained from Buckley J, an interlocutory injunction on 20 November. This injunction, which restrained Hello! from publishing photographs of the wedding, was continued by Hunt J the following day, after a hearing at which Hello!, as well as the claimants, were represented.

Hello! appealed and after a hearing over two days the Court of Appeal (Brooke, Sedley and Keene LJJ) announced, a little before 5 p m on 23 November, that the appeal would be allowed and the interlocutory injunction lifted.

OK! had originally intended to publish the authorised photographs over two issues, its 242nd and 243rd, which were respectively due to come out on 30 November and 6 December in London, and a day later in the rest of the United Kingdom. However, on discovering the existence of the unauthorised photographs, they decided to bring the publication forward. This meant that the selection of photographs was an exercise carried out by the Douglases "in some haste", rather than being "a leisurely, unhurried and pleasant process" to quote from para 88 of the judgment. As the judge found, the need for expedition resulted in expense, which would not otherwise have been incurred.

Compensatory Damages in...

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