Media Disputes

We appreciate that clients seeking advice in media disputes invariably require robust advice at short notice and, if necessary, the commencement or defence of court proceedings.

Our media lawyers act in cases involving:

• defamation, privacy and court reporting, both for publishers/broadcasters seeking to protect their freedom of expression, and for individuals and organisations seeking to protect their privacy and reputations;
• information rights, both data subject access rights and freedom of information requests of public authorities; also access to Court documents
• copyright and passing off issues arising from comparative advertising campaigns, spoilers, serialisations

Prominent cases in which members of the group have been involved include:

• the Spycatcher litigation with HM Government for The Sunday Times concerning the memoirs of Peter Wright;
• the Reynolds case for Times Newspapers which established the defence of responsible journalism for the media;
• the action by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas and OK! against Hello magazine in respect of the confidence attaching to the Douglas’ wedding photographs;
• Paddy Ashdown’s case against Telegraph Newspapers in respect of his diaries concerning the interaction of copyright and freedom of expression
• The action by Takenaka, Japanese based architects, to trace and establish liability for a series of anonymous libellous e-mails, the first such case to reach trial, in 2000;
• The successful 2005 challenge to the ban by Transport for London on the advertising of holidays in North Cyprus;
• Times Newspapers’ success in 2007 in a case before the Information Tribunal in obtaining disclosure of information held by H.M. Treasury concerning the withdrawal of tax credits in the 1997 budget, under the Freedom of Information Act.

Chambers 2007 describes Martin Kramer as “a living legend” and rates him as “senior statesman” among defamation lawyers. Rupert Earle is described as “proactive and diligent, not afraid to stand his ground, exceptionally professional, no-nonsense and practical to work with”.