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8.08.18

Love Island and the perils of online trolling

Love Island has come to an end and it certainly divided opinion.  For some, the ITV2 reality dating show set in a luxurious villa in Mallorca was one of the highlights of this glorious summer and a welcome alternative to what seemed like endless hours of World Cup football.  For many others, it was the…

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29.06.18

An expectation of privacy in a spent conviction? XKF provides some practical guidance

In the case of XKF v BBC [2018] EWHC 1560 (QB), Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing granted a privacy injunction to a former police officer, anonymised in these proceedings as XKF, to prevent the BBC from broadcasting film footage of him recorded at or near his home on 13 March 2018. Facts In July 2003, XKF…

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15.03.18

The resurgence of the privacy injunction?

According to official statistics published by the Ministry of Justice, there were, between July and December 2017, eight new applications for interim privacy injunctions, all of which were granted (available here). This was the highest number of successful new applications in a six-month period since 2012.  Is the privacy injunction making a return? This higher…

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13.12.17

Celebrity blackmail victim obtains injunction restraining publication of allegation of serious criminality

In LJY v Persons Unknown [2017] EWHC 3230 (QB), Mr Justice Warby granted an interim injunction restraining unknown defendants from publishing serious allegations of criminality against a celebrity, anonymised in the proceedings as ‘LJY’. LJY is said to be well-known to the public due to his work in the entertainment industry. On 5 December 2017,…

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13.08.17

Libel/Defamation: £25,000 libel damages and indemnity costs for malicious complaint to employer

In Singh v Weayou [2017] EWHC 2102 (QB), the Claimant Keith Singh, a Night Services Coordinator at the Priory Hospital in Roehampton, sued the Defendant Joseph Weayou, a Health Care Assistant at the same hospital, for libel and malicious falsehood in respect of an email Mr Weayou had sent on 24 August 2015 to the…

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11.06.17

Revenge porn on Facebook

Last month, The Guardian disclosed that Facebook had to assess nearly 54,000 potential cases of revenge porn and “sextortion” on the site in a single month. Facebook defines revenge porn as attempts to use intimate imagery to shame, humiliate or gain revenge against an individual.  The significant number of cases reported to Facebook is no…

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3.05.17

Nigel Farage sued for libel by anti-hate charity

Defamation proceedings have been issued in the High Court against former UKIP leader Nigel Farage after he accused the charity Hope not Hate of being ‘violent and undemocratic’.  The allegation was made on 20 December 2016 on LBC radio’s breakfast show. Mr Farage made the allegation after being questioned by LBC breakfast host, Nick Ferrari about…

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29.11.16

Is a police investigation a private matter?

A recent decision by Nicol J in ERY v Associated Newspapers Ltd [2016] EWHC 2760 (QB) has found that a suspect in a police investigation has a reasonable expectation of privacy which is likely to trump the press’s right to freedom of expression. Earlier this year, police investigating suspected financial crime raided the premises of…

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31.07.16

Defamed by Persons Unknown

The case of Smith v Unknown Defendants [2016] EWHC 1775 (QB) was a libel action against unknown defendants who had published defamatory material on a website.  The Queen’s Bench Division granted the claimant’s application for default judgment against the second defendant in his absence and granted summary relief of £10,000 in damages as well as injunctions…

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30.06.16

Restraining publication of images taken at private zoo — Human Rights Act 1998 engaged

Brett Wilson LLP partner Iain Wilson is interviewed by Anne Bruce.  This article was first published on Lexis® PSL IP & IT analysis on 28 June 2016 In Heythrop Zoological Gardens Ltd and another v Captive Animals Protection Society the court rejected the claimant’s application for an interim injunction to prevent the publication of photographs and videos of…

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Articles are intended as an introduction to the topic and do not constitute legal advice.