Monday, 29 December 2008

Madonna seeks giant privacy payout in UK litigation

The Guardian has reported that pop icon Madonna is claiming more than £5 million in damages from the Mail on Sunday newspaper, which admitted a breach of privacy and copyright infringement following its publication of private photographs of her wedding to film director Guy Ritchie. If Madonna succeeds, she will have created a new UK record for a pay-out in a privacy case (the current record is the £60,000 recently awarded to Formula One boss Max Mosle after revelations concerning his sex life were published in the News of the World).

The singer had accused the Mail on Sunday of breaching her privacy and copyright by publishing pictures of her wedding in the Scottish Highlands, eight years after the event, following news that her marriage to Ritchie had broken down. The wedding was said to have been "wholly private" though the photos were said to have been surreptitiously copied by an interior designer at Madonna's home in Beverly Hills.  The paper is said to have paid just £5,000 for them. A decision from Mr Justice Eady is expected in the New Year.

[Thanks, Birgit Clark, for supplying this information].

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