J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling wins appeal in law suit over child photos

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of children's books, won a U.K. lawsuit brought against a picture agency that sold photographs of her son to a British tabloid.

An appeals court in London today ruled that Rowling should be allowed to bring a test case to determine whether English law permits taking pictures of children in public without permission from their parents.

“An expedition to a café of the kind which occurred here seems to us to be at least arguably part of each member of the family's recreation time intended to be enjoyed by them and such that publicity of it is intrusive,” a three-judge panel said in its ruling today.

Rowling's lawsuit concerned a photo taken while she and her husband were pushing their then 18-month-old son David in a stroller. The child's profile was shown in the photo, which was sold by agency Big Pictures U.K. Ltd. and later published in the Sunday Express, lawyers for the couple said in earlier hearings.

Rowling and her husband sued Big Pictures and the newspaper in their son's name, claiming the photo violated the child's privacy right, and that publishing it was a misuse of private information.

Appeal Planned

The High Court in London in August threw out the lawsuit when a judge ruled it didn't have a “realistic chance of success” and that suing in the son's name was “somewhat artificial.”

The couple settled the lawsuit with the Express and appealed parts of the ruling relating to the photo agency.

“We embarked on this lawsuit, not because we were seeking special privileges for our children, but because we wanted them to grow up like their friends, free from unwarranted intrusions into their privacy,” Rowling and her husband said in a statement issued though their lawyer.

Big's lawyer, Mark Summerfield, said in a telephone interview that he plans to apply directly to the House of Lords, the U.K.'s highest court, to appeal the ruling. (Bloomberg)

(Published by Bloomberg 7, 2008)