A battle over a pop star's picture, once described by a judge as 'a storm in a teacup', exercised leading legal brains at the Court of Final Appeal yesterday.
The Oriental Press Group (OPG) is seeking extra damages from rivals Apple Daily over the reproduction of its exclusive photograph of Faye Wong at Beijing airport when she was pregnant.
An earlier ruling helped spark events which landed then Oriental Daily News' chief editor, Wong Yeung-ng, in jail for four months in July for contempt of court. The OPG was fined $5 million.
The newspaper had launched a campaign against the judiciary over defeats the group had suffered in court. Wong has been freed on bail pending appeal.
Peter Garland SC, for the OPG, argued yesterday the $8,001 damages awarded for unlicensed use of the Faye Wong picture should go up to $195,000.
The picture was published on the front cover of the October 6, 1996, edition of the Oriental Sunday Magazine.
