Day 307 - 27 Nov 96 - Page 11

     
     1        any other evidence of publication.
     2
     3   MS. STEEL:   I do not think any witnesses have been called on
     4        that matter, but there are probably some press cuttings in
     5        the bundles.  I do not know.
     6
     7   MR. RAMPTON:   I am not conscious that, as it happens, there was
     8        any republication of any of the contents.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   It is for you to point me at it if it is
    11        there.  I am not going to go through all the bundles
    12        looking for a press report.
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:   Definitely, we are well aware of journalists having
    15        made use of these press releases.  I cannot actually
    16        remember whether or not -----
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I have to have evidence of it, you see, and
    19        it is for you to point me at that evidence, if it exists.
    20
    MR. MORRIS:   I think that every press report about this case
    22        has been coloured by the fact that McDonald's have issued
    23        these press releases and they have seen them and McDonald's
    24        have characterised what we have said as being lies.  I have
    25        definitely seen it in a number of press reports -- I will
    26        try and find it -- where they have used the words, the
    27        Plaintiffs claimed it is lies.  But you cannot say that
    28        they have directly lifted phrases from the press release,
    29        but it is a matter of common sense and construction that,
    30        obviously, it has affected the journalists who have seen it
    31        and know about it.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   You must point me at something which
    34        actually shows any further publication, if indeed it is
    35        there.  You are quite right you have proved publication to
    36        the extent admitted, plus the evidence which was
    37        unchallenged which you called about the press release being
    38        given to specific people and a magazine in Germany, but I
    39        am not just going to draw an inference that it was repeated
    40        on television or the radio or in a newspaper, unless you
         can point to some evidence of that.
    42
    43   MS. STEEL:   Can I just say that it has also been reported in
    44        any number of places that the leaflet originated in 1984
    45        and the only place that that has come from is from the
    46        Plaintiffs' own document.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   You must, at some stage, if need be by
    49        writing it down on a bit of paper, refer me to the evidence
    50        or a photocopy of a newspaper article or something like 
    51        that. 
    52 
    53   MS. STEEL:   Right.  Just, anyway, I mean, the point is, whether
    54        or not we can do that, we do not have to do it because they
    55        have admitted publication to the journalists and to the
    56        public as well.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  It may affect damages, you see, if you
    59        succeed on this.
    60