Zeta-Jones Wedding Photo Battle Moves To House Of Lords

The court battle between two British magazines over Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas' wedding photographs is set to continue at the House Of Lords after OK! were unsatisfied with the Court of Appeal's recent decision.

Last month (MAY05) the Court of Appeal in London allowed Hello! magazine's appeal against last year's (04) High Court judgment, which ordered the weekly glossy to pay OK! $1.8 million (GBP1 million) in damages for publishing unauthorised pictures of the Hollywood stars' 2000 wedding.

The magazine's chiefs confessed they used the photos to spoil OK!'s exclusive coverage of the wedding, but argued "spoilers" are a common practice in the media industry. OK! had a $1.8 million contract for exclusive wedding coverage of the actors' marriage.

In 2003, Zeta-Jones and Douglas won a partial victory in their battle against Hello!, when a High Court judge ruled Hello! breached their commercial confidence by publishing the "unflattering" images of the couple's wedding day, but the court rejected their claims of invasion of privacy.

Last month, OK! magazine were ordered to repay more than $3.6 million (GBP2 million) worth of damages and costs it had received from Hello!.

Despite the Court of Appeal's three judges LORD PHILLIPS, THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS, LORD JUSTICE CLARKE and LORD JUSTICE NEUBERGER refusing OK!'s plea to take the verdict to the Law Lords, OK! have petitioned directly and the case will now go to the House of Lords later this year (05).