Intellectual Property: Breach of Confidence—Misuse of Private Information

On 6 May 2004, the House of Lords handed down its judgment in the case of Campbell v MGN Limited [2004] UKHL 22 on appeal from [2002] EWCA Civ 1373. The Appellate Committee consisted of Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Baroness Hale of Richmond and Lord Carswell. Lord Nicholls and Lord Hoffman ruled to dismiss the appeal; however Lord Hope, Baroness Hale and Lord Carswell allowed the appeal and restored the ruling of the judge of the court of first instance.

The Facts

The facts of this case were as follows. On 1 February 2001 the Mirror newspaper ran a front page article entitled "Naomi: I am a drug addict" which gave details of the super model Naomi Campbell's attendance at Narcotics Anonymous meetings and her efforts to overcome her addiction to drink and drugs. The article referred to Miss Campbell's efforts to rehabilitate herself, described generally Narcotics Anonymous therapy and referred to some of Miss Campbell's recently publicised activities, including an incident when Miss Campbell was rushed to the hospital and had her stomach pumped. The judgment states that the article was generally sympathetic and supportive and perhaps slightly smug that Miss Campbell had been caught out by the Mirror. The newspaper had obtained its information either from another of Miss Campbell's associates or a fellow addict attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Photographs of her attending a Narcotics Anonymous meeting had been taken by a freelance photographer who had been employed especially for the purpose and who had taken the photographs covertly from inside a parked car some distance away.

The articles were inaccurate in several ways: Naomi Campbell had been attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings in the UK and overseas for two years not three months and the frequency of her attendance was greatly exaggerated (she did not regularly go to two meetings a day, as was reported). Photographs of Miss Campbell in an easily recognisable street were of her leaving a meeting rather than arriving as stated in the article.

Miss Campbell issued proceedings against MGN Limited on the same day the articles were published. The Mirror proceeded to publish further extremely critical articles. In the proceedings Miss Campbell claimed damages for breach of confidence and compensation under the Data Protection Act 1998. The main basis of a claim for aggravated damages was an article published on 7 February 2001 headed "Fame on you, Ms Campbell" which reported Naomi Campbell's plans to "launch a campaign for better rights for celebrities or "artists" as she calls them" and included the sentence: "As a campaigner, Naomi's about as effective as a chocolate soldier."

Morland J [2003] EWHC 499 (QB) upheld Ms. Campbell's claim and awarded her 2,500 plus 1,000 aggravated damages in relation to both claims. The Court of Appeal overturned this decision [2002] EWCA Civ 1373, [2003] QB 633.

The Issues

The case raised some interesting issues. Lord Nicholls held that in the UK there is no "over-arching, all embracing cause of action...

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