September 22, 2025
Douglas v Hello Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 595 (18 May 2005)
Actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones contracted with OK! magazine for exclusive wedding photos. Rival magazine Hello! published unauthorised photos. The court found Hello! liable to OK! for breach of commercial confidence, confirming that private information, once commodified, gains commercial protection. Facts The claimants, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, were famous actors who sold exclusive photographic rights to their 2000 wedding to Northern & Shell plc, publishers of OK! magazine, for £1 million. The wedding was a private event with stringent security measures to prevent unauthorised photography. Despite this, a freelance photographer, Rupert Thorpe, infiltrated the wedding and took unauthorised
