Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and Another v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | MR JUSTICE RIMER |
| Judgment Date | 14 May 2003 |
| Neutral Citation | [2003] EWHC 1150 (Ch) |
| Docket Number | Case No HC03C01725 |
| Court | Chancery Division |
| Date | 14 May 2003 |
[2003] EWHC 1150 (Ch)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
CHANCERY DIVISION
Royal Courts of Justice
The Strand
London WC2A 2LL
Mr Justice Rimer
Case No HC03C01725
MR D KITCHIN QC appeared on behalf of THE CLAIMANTS
MR R SPEARMAN QC appeared on behalf of THE DEFENDANTS
Wednesday 14 May 2003
This is the adjourned hearing of a matter which was before Laddie J on 7 and 9 May. The second claimant is Ms J K Rowling who needs no introduction but whom I shall I shall nevertheless introduce as the internationally known author of the Harry Potter books, of which four have to date been published. Her fifth Harry Potter book entitled "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is due to be published on 21 June 2003. The first claimant, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, is the publisher. The printers are a company called Clays Ltd.
The popularity of the Harry Potter books has been immense and unprecedented. The forthcoming release of the new book is an event awaited with widespread expectation of literary excitement by countless Harry Potter fans worldwide. Their appetite for the Harry Potter books has resulted in both Bloomsbury and Clays being subjected to a high security risk in advance of the general release of the new book fixed for 21 June. Bloomsbury agreed a security protocol with Clays, which laid down the tightest security measures they have ever imposed for the printing of one of their books. With a view to implementing that, Clays in turn imposed unusually high security measures directed at protecting the secrecy of the book before its general release; they were measures of which all their employees were made aware. The commercial importance to Bloomsbury and Ms Rowling of the maintenance of that secrecy until the due date for release is obvious.
Unfortunately, the system put in place proved to be less than perfect. It appears that at least three copies of the book (and maybe more) have escaped those security measures. The likelihood is that they were stolen from Clays or at least acquired in breach of the heavy layers of confidentiality surrounding the book. Two copies were found in a field in Suffolk and were handed over on 5 May to The Sun newspaper which is published by the first defendant to these proceedings, News Group Newspapers Limited ("NGN").
The Sun gave major coverage about the discovery of those two copies in their issue on 6 May, although made it plain that they intended to return the copies to Bloomsbury without revealing in advance the plot of the new book and so spoiling the expectations of the Harry Potter fans who are preparing themselves for 21 June. The Sun has returned the two copies and has not disclosed the plot.
There is, however, it would seem, at least one other copy still at large. There may be more, or at any rate there may be various parts of the book still at large. The position is entirely uncertain. The Daily Mail has, according to the evidence, been approached by an unnamed caller who asked the paper what it would give him for his copy of the book, although that newspaper declined to deal with him. A similar approach was made to The Sun. Indeed, The Sun made arrangements to meet that caller, as a result of which a 44 year old man and three teenagers were arrested. Four chapters of the book were recovered. The names of those individuals are Mr E J Barnes, who is a minor; Mr Park, another minor; Mr Donald Parfitt and Mr Gary Cox, both of whom are adults. As I shall explain in due course, the claimants ask leave today to add those four individuals as defendants to this claim. The evidence also discloses that someone approached the Daily Mirror and offered to sell it the first three chapters of the book. Mr Kitchin QC, who appears for the claimants, tells me that a further copy of the book was discovered yesterday by a 16 year old boy. That copy has been returned to Bloomsbury.
To the extent that copies of the book are still outside the secure control of Bloomsbury and Clays the claimants are extremely concerned. They are so concerned because, to the extent that parts of the book or complete copies of the book are still at large, there remains a continuing risk that public disclosure may be made of it in advance of the general release date. The claimants' concern is that, even though the three newspapers I have mentioned have shown a proper sense of responsibility in declining to deal with the telephone callers and disclose the contents of the book, others might not be so responsible. The claimants are in particular concerned that the book, or parts of it, might find its way on to the internet.
Against this background the claimants sought injunctive relief from Laddie on 7 May. They joined NGN as the first defendant, which offered certain undertakings to protect the claimants' interests, although its stance was that it could not and should not be required to do so and that the undertakings were unnecessary and inappropriate. Those undertakings expire today. In the meantime, The Sun has served some fairly full evidence in answer. In the light of that evidence, although the claimants assert that they were justified in joining The Sun and extracting from it the undertakings which it gave, the claimants seek no continued relief against The Sun.
All that remains, in effect, as between the claimants and The Sun is the question of The Sun's joinder in the action. Mr Spearman QC has attended today, which is the return date of the applications, with a very full skeleton argument on behalf of The Sun explaining why it claims it was not properly joined in the action. It became apparent to me that to deal now with that aspect of the debate, which, as I understand it, goes only to the question of costs, was not an appropriate use of court time. It appeared to me likely that that particular...
To continue reading
Request your trial