Legal Question in Entertainment Law in United Kingdom

Re: autobiography

I think the key case in the UK is MCKENNITT & ANOTHER V ASH from 2005. Any search on the internet will bring up a number of offerings from law firms in the UK that have analysed the case. In summary, however, McKennitt (a singer) objected to disclosure of private information about her in a book by her former friend. She sued and the case rested on whether publishing confidential information about the McKennitt�s personal life infringed her right to privacy under Art.8 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950, whether the publisher's right to freedom of expression under Art.10 of the same Convention outweighed the right to privacy. The court found that, for genuinely confidential information, the right to privacy DID outweigh the right to freedom of expression. This decision was upheld on appeal in 2006.

Examples of genuinely confidential information:

� the individual�s private emotional response to bereavement

� Details of a person�s home (the layout, decor, the layout, cleanliness (or otherwise) or behaviour of the occupants

� intimate conversations with individuals imparted UNDER CONDITIONS OF TRUST (important that bit)

� Any confidential contractual terms or details of any dispute which is subject to the terms of a settlement made under a confidential court order

� Acts or behaviour occurring in a bedroom, even when the room is shared with the person publishing the information

The following were held not to give rise to an expectation of privacy:

� Trivial details of a non-intrusive nature of outings taken together

� Historical and general remarks made about companies

� Details of non-confidential work assignments or related telephone conversations between third parties

� Details of the stress surrounding a situation (losing temper in public).

If you think that you are running close to a disclosure of confidential information, make sure your publisher runs it past a lawyer with good pre-publishing experience.