Ex-Formula One boss Max Mosley has been on a mission ever since March 2008 when he woke up one Sunday morning to find out his extra-marital sexual exploits with five paid dominatrices in a basement flat had been splashed on the front-page of the News of the World.
Today he had his first major setback as the European Court ruled that existing UK privacy laws and codes are sufficiently stringent to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mosley thinks it is wrong that the first he knew about the fact that the News of the World had invaded his privacy was when it did so by publishing photos, video and a story about his sexual antics.
If they had asked him for a comment in advance of publication he could have obtained an injunction banning publication. Mosley wanted to get pre-publication notification in cases such as his enshrined in law but he was unsuccessful.
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Mosley may have won £60,000 in privacy damages in 2009 – but he argues that was no remedy because legal fees still left him out of pocket and the publicity around the case had the effect of repeating the privacy breach.
Today’s judgment will be seen by many in the media as good news for press freedom at a time when an increasing number of celebrities are using before-publication injunctions to prevent embarrassing stories which encroach on their privacy.
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