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Artist News Legal Media
Paul Weller wins Mail Online privacy battle
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 17 April 2014
Paul Weller has been awarded £10,000 in damages relating to the publication of pictures on his children on the Daily Mail’s website.
Weller and his wife Hannah sued Mail publisher Associated Newspapers after the couple were pictured shopping with their twin sons and another of the former Jam frontman’s children while out shopping in LA in October 2012. They argued that the shots were “plainly voyeuristic” and a “blatant impediment to the natural social progress of children”. They added that the photographs were taken without consent by a photographer who they had asked to leave them alone.
In a statement, Associated Newspapers said it planned to appeal the decision: “Our publication of the images was entirely in line with the law in California where they were taken by a freelance photographer. The suggestion that children have an expectation of privacy in relation to publication by the media of images of their faces when one child (now nearly eighteen) has modelled for Teen Vogue, images of the babies’ naked bottoms have been tweeted by their mother, and their father has discussed the children in promotional interviews is a worrying development in our law, as it has conferred unfettered image rights on all the children”.
The company added: “This judgment has wide-ranging and serious consequences not only for local, national and international digital journalism but for anyone posting pictures of children on social networks”.
The judge in the case agreed that the pictures complied with Californian law, but said that their publication in the UK nevertheless contravened European privacy laws, adding: “There was no relevant debate of public interest to which the publication of the photographs contributed. The balance of the general interest of having a vigorous and flourishing newspaper industry does not outweigh the interests of the children in this case”.
Away from the courts, Weller, meanwhile, is preparing for the release of a new career retrospective compilation, and a series of low-key live shows.
