Intellectual Property Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Intellectual Property Law - Essay Example (Harpwood 2008:408). Due to the absence of any direct or specific provisions in law to sue for intrusion of privacy by press, any claimant has to seek for limited and indirect legal proceedings like the breach of confidence. Customarily, this lies on the proof of existence of any special kind of association of confidence. In UK, relief is available when there is a breach of confidence. For instance, if information leaked during the course of professional or confidential relations like a barrister and a client where information passed on by the client should be treated as confidence, and if there is any misuse of any information or publication of the same, then it may result in a claim of infringement of confidence. These principles were laid down in cases like Prince Albert v Strange2 , Saltman Engineering Co Ltd v Campbell Engineering Ltd3 and this principle was again reconfirmed in AG v. Guardian Newspapers No 24 . Since, there is no specific law or regulation of privacy in the UK, it seems that UK is shifting towards more effective and a comprehensive privacy law immediately after the introduction of the Human Rights Act, 1988. In McKennit v Ash5, where Loreena McKennit, the folk singer succeeded against an appeal filed by an author of a book which she claimed that it infringed her privilege to privacy. It was held in this case that the claimants’ privilege to privacy was upheld by the court under the Article 8 of the ECHR, and the same was overridden by the Art 10 which offers right to the freedom of expression. (Harpwood 2008:409). In 2001, the Mirror Newspaper in UK published a news item about celebrity Naomi Campbell and the Mirror reported that Campbell was a drug addict, and she was actually receiving medical treatment by regularly visiting Narcotics Anonymous. The news item in the Mirror magazine contained some photos, which showed Ms Campbell in a NA meeting and some exhaustive information about the medical treatment received by Ms Campbell, a nd some news items appeared were claimed to be malicious. Vexed with Paparazzi, Campbell initiated legal action against MGN. The trial judge in the case of Campbell v MGN, found for the appellant. The Trial Judge was of the view that publication of confidential news by the Mirror was an infringement of Ms Campbell’s privileges under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the laws of confidence. Aggrieved by this, MGN appealed and the Court of Appeal annulled the trial court’s findings. However, the House of Lords turned down the verdict of the Court of Appeal and upheld the trial court’s order of ?3,500 as damages to the appellant. The decision in Campbell case is of much significance as the Law Lords were of the view that there are yet no over-arching reasons for invasion of privacy in the UK. The House of Lords’ decision in Campbell case seems to have increased the present action for infringement of confidence by safeguarding the unfair usag e of personal information without the necessity to create a confidential association. (Ajmal & O’Hare 2004). In UK, the law of privacy has been entirely established by the courts and it is growing case by case basis as the Parliament has not yet accorded its serious thought about it. (Davis J 2008). However, the right to