Celebrity injunction: Australian website names couple protected by privacy order

Judges in London are deciding whether the decision to lift injunction can go before the Supreme Court

The Court of Appeal granted the original injunction in January (AFP/Getty Images)

An Australian website has named the couple appealing the decision to lift a privacy injunction which had banned a tabloid from publishing their names.

On Monday, Court of Appeal judges ruled in favour of the Sun on Sunday after it challenged the injunction imposed in January. The tabloid had argued the order preventing it from reporting on a celebrity's “extra-marital activities” should be overturned because the man and his spouse have already been named by publications in the US and Scotland and a political blogger.

Judges are now considering whether the man, named as PJS in court documents, can take the Court of Appeal’s decision to the Supreme Court. They are expected to reach a decision by the end of today.

In January, Court of Appeal judges said identifying PJS and publishing the story would be “devastating” for him and would “generate a media storm” that would make their young children the subject of increased press attention.

But after ruling in the Sun on Sunday’s favour, Lord Justice Jackson said “knowledge of the relevant matters is now so widespread that confidentiality has probably been lost,” meaning the harm the injunction was designed to counter had already likely taken place.

PJS can still not be named until his appeal has been heard.