This is an informal case summary prepared for the purposes of facilitating exchange during the 2025 WIPO IP Judges Forum.
Session 6: Personality Rights
Court of Appeal of England and Wales (Civil Division), United Kingdom [2023]: Stoute v News Group Newspapers Ltd, [2023] EWCA Civ 523
Date of judgment: May 19, 2023
Issuing authority: Court of Appeal of England and Wales (Civil Division)
Level of the issuing authority: Appellate Instance
Type of procedure: Judicial (Civil)
Subject matter: Others
Claimant: Richard Stoute and another
Defendant: News Group Newspapers Limited
Keywords: personality right, right to privacy, freedom of expression
Basic facts: The claimants ran a business selling personal protective equipment to hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their company secured government contracts worth around £2 billion and press interest in the appellants rose. In December 2022, they were at a beachside restaurant in Barbados, where they had a holiday home, to celebrate a child's birthday. Members of the public were on the beach and at the restaurant. They were photographed at the restaurant, together with their boat and their house. The defendant obtained the photographs from an agency and published them in a Sunday newspaper. At first instance, an interim injunction was obtained to restrain publication of the photographs of the house and boat, but the claimants were refused an injunction in relation to the photographs on the beach and out in public. On appeal, the claimants sought an injunction in relation to the further publication of the photographs on the beach and out in public, relying on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Held: Appeal dismissed.
Relevant holdings in relation to Personality Rights: ECHR Article 8 (right to private life) and Article 10 (freedom of expression) could come into conflict. The balance to be struck required a two-stage test: first, whether a reasonable expectation of privacy exists. If so, secondly, whether that expectation outweighed the defendant’s right to freedom of expression in all the circumstances. In this instance, the claimants had no reasonable expectation of privacy on the beach and out in public.
Relevant legislation: Arts. 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, UK Human Rights Act 1998