Date: 22nd November 2000

Mag War Over Jones/Douglas Wedding


British celebrity magazines HELLO! and OK! are embroiled in a bitter legal battle - over CATHERINE ZETA JONES and MICHAEL DOUGLAS's wedding.

OK! chiefs paid the superstar pair £1m ($1.5m) for exclusive rights to all photos taken at their wedding (18NOV00) - but arch- rivals Hello! published unauthorised shots taken by a cameraman with a hidden lens.

Yesterday (21NOV00) OK! rushed to court to prevent publication of the Spanish-based rival which has recently retaken the lead in the circulation war. However, they were too late to stop 10,000 early copies of the mag hitting the streets. OK!, owned by RICHARD DESMOND who is bidding to buy EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS and made his fortune publishing pornographic magazines such as ASIAN BABES, BLACK & BLUE, FAT & FIFTY, SKINNY & WRIGGLY and the HELLO! take off POSH WIVES, won an injunction, getting a ban on the remaining 755,900 copies.

Judge MR JUSTICE HUNT says, "I have no doubt these images are confidential and on the face of it the defendants are in breach as alleged of confidentiality, and possibly malicious falsehood." The case was decided by the bad quality of the Hello! snaps, which convinced the judge they had been taken without the wedding couple's knowledge. The judge forbade Hello! leave to appeal. (NFA/WNTSU/PDD)

Source: WENN