News | Media & Communications

Wednesday 2nd May 2007

SJ Berwin's senior Solicitor Advocate, Richard Slowe, and associates Georgina Bristow and Christina Sharma have successfully acted for OK! magazine in their dispute with Hello! over the publication of "spoiler" photographs of the wedding of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.

OK! is a national celebrity news publication from Northern & Shell PLC, a significant force in British and worldwide media which owns four national newspapers.

The dispute began in 2000, when OK! entered into a £1m contract for the Douglas' wedding photos but was prevented from enjoying exclusive pictures by Hello’s simultaneous publication of "spoiler" photographs taken by an uninvited paparazzi photographer. OK's claim was founded on the loss of revenue caused by the reduced value of their £1m contract and the loss of "exclusive" publication.

After winning in the High Court and then losing at the Court of Appeal, OK! instructed SJ Berwin LLP and took Hello! to the House of Lords for breach of confidentiality and unlawful interference with business. The case has attracted considerable interest as the Law Lords have now clarified the law on both these issues. They ruled in OK!’s favour on confidentiality and restored the damages award.

If you would like any further information regarding this case, please contact:

Richard Slowe, Partner, Tel: +44 (0)20 7111 2345, email: richard.slowe@sjberwin.com

Helen MacRae, Marketing Manager, Tel: +44 (0)20 7111 2903, email: helen.macrae@sjberwin.com

Founded in 1982, SJ Berwin is a leading City corporate and commercial law firm with more than 550 lawyers working across its offices in London, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Turin.

The Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice at SJ Berwin has 14 partners, 2 consultants and over 40 fee earners, all based in London. In addition, we have specialist departments for competition, construction litigation, property litigation and employment.

We have extensive experience in litigating not only in England but also worldwide and have a reputation for acting in highly complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes. In addition to High Court litigation we have market reputations in International Arbitration, Mediation, Fraud and Financial Markets Litigation, with leading individual names in each area.

We see our skills primarily as 'problem solvers'. Typically, we are closely involved with our clients in steering them clear of litigation where possible and deploying our litigation skills when there is no better solution to help the clients achieve their business objectives.