U2 Court case

J. just forwarded me this link to an this Irish Time article. The soliciters involved are, of course, run by the Irish Fencing team captain Philip Lee.

U2 guitarist The Edge has begun a court battle to prevent a newspaper from reporting about the alleged illness of a family member, it emerged today.

He has obtained a temporary injunction against the Sunday Worldtabloid, which published details on January 8th about the alleged illness.

At the High Court in Dublin today lawyers for The Edge applied for a two-week adjournment of the case.

Mrs Justice Macken granted the adjournment and agreed to delete the Sunday World'smain shareholder, Independent Newspapers, as a named party in the action.

Philip Lee Solicitors, the Dublin firm representing the star, will be seeking a permanent injunction against the newspaper to prevent it publishing any further information about the alleged illness.

The Sunday Worldarticle on January 8th included a pixellated photo of the family member.

The case will be one of the first of its kind in the State to test the right to privacy of a celebrity under the Constitution and European Convention of Human Rights.

The Sunday Worldis claiming that the story was first disclosed in Rolling Stonemagazine and was of huge public interest because it could have led to the cancellation of U2's world tour.

The band's Vertigo 2005 tour is due to start in San Diego on March 28th and will take in more than 100 shows.