Court of Appeal prevents publication of account of celebrity's extramarital sexual activities

The Court of Appeal has granted an interim injunction to prevent a newspaper from disclosing details of extramarital sexual activities of the appellant, a well-known person in the entertainment business, on the grounds that publication of the article would infringe the appellant's right to privacy. (PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2016] EWCA Civ 100, 22 January 2016.)

NOTE: On 18 April 2016, the Court of Appeal agreed to News Group Newspaper's application to set aside the interim injunction (see Legal update, Court of Appeal lifts injunction preventing publication of account of celebrity's extramarital sexual activities). On 19 May 2016, the Supreme Court allowed PJS's appeal against the decision (see Legal update, Supreme Court overturns Court of Appeal's decision to lift interim injunction in privacy case). On 4 November 2016, the High Court made an order settling the claim by consent of the parties (see Legal update, Case relating to celebrity's extramarital sexual activity settled by consent). (See details of Practical Law IP&IT and Media & Telecoms policy on annotating case reports.)