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Ed Sheeran and his co-songwriters, Johnny McDaid and Steve McCutcheon (the claimants), have won a copyright case, the High Court granting the declaration sought that their 2017 song "Shape of You" had not infringed the copyright of another song "Oh Why" composed in 2014 by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue (the defendants). The judge, Mr Justice Zacaroli, ruled that Sheeran and his collaborators had “neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied” the earlier song. The claimants commenced the proceedings when the defendants had the music royalty...

On 9 May 2022, the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (which is responsible for scrutinising the work of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and its associated public bodies, including the BBC) published its report on influencer culture, following the conclusion of its inquiry into influencers’ power on social media. Whilst acknowledging the benefits and the significant returns that influencer culture brings to the UK economy, the Committee emphasised that the industry needs to be given more serious consideration by the government. In the words of...

The UK government has launched its policy paper (report) reviewing the future role and relevance of public sector broadcasting (PSB) and proposals ensuring greater regulatory uniformity between video on demand services and terrestrial television services. According to the report, terrestrial services remain part of the broadcast ecosystem and 89% of the British public listen to the radio weekly. Current statistics show that nearly half of UK adults used online video services as their primary source for viewing TV and film. 17.3 million homes accessed digital terrestrial TV via...

On 7 April 2022, the High Court of Justice granted an interim injunction restraining the British Broadcasting Corporation (‘BBC’) from broadcasting a programme identifying ‘X’, an alleged MI5 covert human intelligence source (‘CHIS’). The BBC programme in question included the allegations that X is a dangerous extremist and misogynist who physically and psychologically abused two former female partners; that X had told one of these women that he worked for MI5 to terrorise and control her; and that MI5 should have known about X’s conduct and realised...

The Supreme Court has determined that Bloomberg LP (Bloomberg) misused private information when it published an article regarding ZXC, the CEO of a public international company.  The article relied upon a confidential Letter of Request (LOR), concerning ZXC and his company, issued by a UK law enforcement body to another jurisdiction. ZXC argued the use of the LOR by Bloomberg before any investigation and charge had been made constituted a breach of his reasonable expectation of privacy. The High Court agreed, considering Bloomberg had published information that should have remained private....