Profile

• LLB (Bristol)
• Called to the Bar 1985
• Recommended as a leading junior in intellectual property law - UK Legal 500
• Recommended for Intellectual Property - Legal Experts 2006
• Member of the Legal Services Commission Review Panel
• Member of the Bar Pro Bono Unit

John Critchley specialises in Media and Entertainment Law together with other business law disputes.

His principal areas of practice include all aspects of Media and Entertainment Law, including Copyright, Trade Marks, Contempt of Court, Music Business, Film & Television, Publishing, Passing Off, Confidential Information, Defamation and Sports Law. The hallmark of this work is its great variety, which has ranged from advising on the ownership of the physical property in the fossil of a dinosaur (for the Russian Academy of Sciences) to a case concerning title to the physical property in certain letters written by the late Princess of Wales (for James Hewitt). In addition to representing or advising corporate media rights owners (from television broadcasters to music publishers), periodicals (from The Guardian to The Lawyer) and the like, he has advised or represented many prominent individuals, including :-

• Frederic Raphael (author)
• Joan Hickson (Postman Pat illustrator)
• Terry Marsh (world boxing champion)
• Nicole Fahri (fashion designer)
• James Hewitt (author)
• Melanie Sykes (model and TV presenter)
• Grant Bovey (media entrepreneur)
• Louise Nurding (pop singer)
• Damien Hirst (artist)
• Kate Bush (singer songwriter)
• Clive Barda (photographer)
• Vanessa Mae (musician)
• John Fashanu (footballer)
• David Spiller (contemporary artist)
• Stella McCartney (fashion designer)
• Ocean Colour Scene (pop group)

OTHER AREAS

John undertakes general business-related litigation, which frequently straddles the traditional Chancery/ Commercial/Common Law boundaries. He has been instructed on behalf of many different companies and individuals, from charities to dot.coms and from lenders (bank/building society) to borrowers.

He is also instructed on behalf of institutional funders of litigation, as diverse as the Police Federation of England and Wales and the National Union of Journalists.

Instructed by the solicitor to the Official Solicitor to the Supreme Court to act as amicus curiae.

CASES OF NOTE

• Hickson -v- Polystyle Publications Ltd & Ors (1995) unreported (ownership of original Postman Pat illustrations)

• Ortiz -v- City of Westminster (1995) 27 HLR 364 CA (judicial review)

• Manners -v- The Reject Shop Plc [1995] FSR 870 (copyright, secondary infringement; costs)

• Re B (Contempt of Court : Affidavit Evidence) [1996] 1 WLR 627 (as amicus, on the jurisdiction of the Court concerning evidence on a motion to commit for contempt of court)

• Hills & Saunders & Ors -v- MGN Ltd (1997) unreported (for the Eton College photographer, the copyright owner of a photograph of Prince William at school, published in newspaper)

• Minder Music Ltd -v- Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury Ltd & Ors (1998) unreported (copyright infringement in musical work ‘Oops upside your head’ by recording of ‘Ooh aah Cantona’)

• Pilbrow -v- Pearless de Rougemont & Co [1999] 3 All ER 355 (liability to pay solicitor’s fees)

• Re Vitara Foods [1999] BCC 315 (abuse of process & delay in the Companies Court)

• Adams -v- McInnis (1999) unreported (regarding the estate of Sir John Pritchard, deceased)

• Gumpo -v- Church of Scientology Religious Education College Inc. [2000] C.P. Rep. 38 (Smedley J) (the exclusion of expert evidence under the CPR) see The White Book, Vol I at CPR 35.1.1.

• Re L (Minors) (Care Proceedings:Cohabiting Solicitors) [2001] 1 WLR 100; (the lay perception of bias and the right to a fair trial)

• Brown -v- South Yorkshire Police Authority (CA) [2001] All ER (D) 72; EWCA Civ 1080; (test case for Police Federation on true construction of Police Regulations 1987)

• Mills –v- News Group Newspapers Ltd [2001] EMLR 957; (breach of confidence/Art 8, convention right to privacy; for celebrity, against newspaper)

• Catt & Anr v COSRECI & Anr [2001] C.P. Rep 41 (inspection of documents; documents held by Ds parent body in USA; control; successful appeal by Ds)

• Paul Widger –v- Craig David (2001) unreported (pop star; validity of management agreement entered into during artist’s minority; undue influence, restraint of trade)

• Adeniji –v- London Borough of Newham (2001), unreported, 16 October 2001 (Garland J.), All ER BLD 1610013259; The Independent, 17th October 2001 (for successful child claimant, complaining of breach of confidence, invasion of privacy & infringement of data protection principles arising out of unauthorised use by Local Authority of photographs taken of a child at one of their schools).

• IMG Liechti & Cie & Ors –v- TRO Essex Music Ltd & Anr [2005] All ER (D) 161 (Nov) (music publishing; amendment of pleadings)

• Adidas-Saloman AG v Draper & Ors [2006 EWHC 1318 (Ch); [2006] All ER (D) 30 (Jun) (Sports law, the regulation of professional tennis and EU Competition Law; interim injunction)

• Vaughan v Jones & Ors [2006] EWHC 2123] (Ch); [2006] All ER (D) 62 (Aug) (chancery proceedings and application for third party costs order; successful defence of respondents)

OTHER INFORMATION

John has broadcast on TV and was invited to appear at the Radio Festival 2000 in Glasgow to present a courtroom drama (with Nicky Cambell and others) ‘Guilty as Branded’, addressing branding issues in the media.

He has also provided continuing education talks to solicitors & others on Media & Entertainment subjects.

REFERENCES

The following solicitors can be contacted for independent confidential references:

SHERIDANS
Whittington House
London
WC1E 7EA
Tel: +44 (0)20 7079 0100
Partners: (i) Russell Roberts: media & entertainment;
(ii) Alan Daniel: litigation

RUSSELL JONES & WALKER
50-52 Chancery Lane
London
WC2A 1HL
Tel: +44 (0)20 7657 1506

Partner: Edward Cooper

Stuart Lockyear
Director, Intellectual Property
BURBERRY
London SW1Y 4BL
Tel: +44 (0)20 7968 0205