A journalist who sued Rod Stewart for breach of copyright has lost her case, reports have revealed.
The BBC reported last week that Chelmsford County Court has thrown journalist Julia McLellan’s case out after ruling that she had not provided enough evidence to show that the image – taken of Mr Stewart in the 1960s – was part of a collection sold to her in 2004.
The photograph, which shows the pop star with a former girlfriend, had been used in a video backdrop at BBC2’s Live in Hyde Park festival.
Bringing the claim before the court in August, Ms McLellan said she had not authorised the 73-year-old singer to use the image and lodged a claim of £9,999.99 for damages.
Although the photograph had been taken by Mr Stewart’s former school friend in the 1960s, Ms McLellan says she bought the image, and therefore acquired the copyright, as part of a collection in 2004.
She told the court that she gave Mr Stewart a copy of the photograph as a keepsake, but did not give him permission to use the image commercially.
However, the legal team acting on behalf of Mr Stewart argued that the court should reject Ms McLellan’s claim for “an absurd level of damages for a totally innocent, brief and incidental use by Sir Rod of a personal snapshot as part of another, more substantial, artistic work”.
His team added that the image was “one of hundreds” used concisely for “only eight seconds”.
Handing down his ruling, Judge Simon Mitchell, presiding over the case, said the claimant had not provided enough evidence to prove that the copyright had been breached.
“The claimant has, first of all, to prove the photograph is what it is. I fear in all the heat and attention generated in this case, the claimant has neglected this,” he said.
Commenting on the outcome of the case, Ms McLellan said: “We could have got a witness statement from Mr Southwood confirming that he took the photograph if we had known beforehand that it was necessary, but this was the first time after several hearings this point had been raised.
“In the circumstances, I think we should have been given a short adjournment in which to get such a statement but we weren’t.”
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