OK! wins Zeta Jones pictures appeal

The House of Lords, the country's highest court, ruled that Hello! had breached OK!'s confidentiality when it published unauthorised photographs of the ceremony at New York's Plaza Hotel in November 2000.

The Douglases, who were not involved in the House of Lords case, were paid £1 million by OK! for exclusive coverage of the wedding.

The couple, together with OK!, sued Hello! when it published paparazzi pictures taken surreptitiously at the wedding by a photographer posing as a guest or waiter.

Three out of five Law Lords found in OK!'s favour over confidentiality but lawyers for Hello! said the victory was soured by a finding that Hello! had not knowingly injured OK!'s business.

This meant, said the lawyers, that the estimated £8 million costs of the case were expected to be shared by the two magazines.

The Douglases and OK! won at the High Court in April 2003 but an award of £1 million damages was quashed after Hello! successfully went to the Court of Appeal in May 2005. The damages award will now be reinstated.

Zeta Jones told the 2003 High Court hearing she felt "devastated, shocked and appalled" when she realised unauthorised photographers had gatecrashed her high-security wedding.

The £14,600 damages awarded to Douglas and his wife by the High Court for the distress and inconvenience the Hello! coverage caused them was not challenged at the Court of Appeal.

Hello! argued during the five-day hearing at the House of Lords that any confidentiality ceased after OK! published its own coverage of the wedding while OK! claimed that Hello!'s coverage was unlawful interference with its business or a breach of its right to confidentiality in the images.http://www.parliament.uk/lords/index.cfm(House of Lords)