Zeta-Jones worried about 'unflattering' photos
By Ciar ByrneThe Guardian

One of Catherine Zeta-Jones' complaints in the upcoming court battle against Hello! magazine is that some of snatched photographs of her on her wedding day were "unflattering" and made her look "large".

The issue came up today in a preliminary hearing in the high court when lawyers representing Hello! demanded that its arch-rival, OK! magazine, release every photograph of the wedding it syndicated to publications around the world.

Hello! wants to compare its own pictures with the authorised photographs taken by OK! in a bid to head off the star's claim that she was portrayed in an unflattering light.

The celebrity magazine is being sued by Zeta-Jones and her husband Michael Douglas who claim their private lives were violated by Hello! causing them stress and loss of income from syndication rights.

Northern & Shell, the owner of OK!, which paid £1m for exclusive rights to the wedding in November 2000. is also suing Hello!.

The company claims that it sold 2 million fewer copies of OK! across three issues after six unauthorised photographs of the wedding appeared in Hello! three days before OK! hit the streets.

Hello! today also asked OK! to hand over detailed commercial information in advance of the high court trial.

Northern & Shell maintains that Hello!'s predominant intention in publishing the pictures was to damage OK!.

However, James Price QC, representing Hello!, today told the vice-chancellor, Sir Andrew Morris, that the claimants had provided insufficient documentation to calculate the extent of the loss caused to OK! by the publication of the photographs in Hello!.

Mr Price said Hello! had only increased its circulation by 150,000 copies as a result of the wedding pictures.

"It's suggested that as a result of publishing six photographs in Hello, 2 million copies of OK! were lost over three issues. We say publication of the photographs at worst could have lost OK! 150,000 copies and probably increased sales of OK!" he said.

Mr Price called on OK! to disclose further documentation relating to its sales, advertising schedules and historical data about how similar celebrity weddings have affected sales in the past.

He also requested copies of all the magazines around the world to which the official wedding photographs were syndicated to establish if the pictures that appeared in Hello! were, as claimed, of poor quality and portrayed Zeta-Jones an unflattering light.

Hello! claims it is necessary to evaluate pictures of the wedding that appeared throughout the world "to see whether or not there are differences in photographic quality".

Michael Tugendhat QC, representing Zeta-Jones and Douglas and OK! magazine, replied that much of the information requested had already been provided in the form of spreadsheets, while other documents were "confidential, commercial arrangements between us and our distributors".

He argued that OK!'s precise circulation figures were not necessary for the magazine to prove that Hello! intended to cause its competitor "material damage".

"There is no indication that the Douglases ever approved syndication of photographs that were materially different from ones that appeared in OK! If they are hoping to find pictures of Ms Jones eating, for example, they are unlikely to find them," Mr Tugendhat added.

Solicitors for Hello! said one of the complaints of Zeta Jones was that "the unauthoritised photographes were of poor quality and presented the second claimant [Zeta Jones] in an unflattering light and in some cases made her look large".

The vice-chancellor said he was not satisfied he should make an order for the disclosure of the requested documents at this stage. However, that does not prevent Hello! from asking the judge to review that decision when the case goes to trial.

A third application for the postponement of the trial will be made this afternoon. Zeta-Jones and Douglas are expected to attend in person when the trial takes place.