A British newspaper, The Sun, was aware of the shoot and sent their own freelance photographers to stay in the hotel. The photographer for The Sun obtained pictures of the scene similar to what was proposed to be on the album cover, and published these. The newspaper subsequently invited readers to send in for an Oasis Album shoot poster. The action was brought in an English Court and applied English copyright and confidentiality law. English law is similar to Australian law and although English cases do not bind Australian Judges they can influence their decisions.
Barristers often refer to English cases to support an argument.
The three plaintiffs alleged a breach of copyright by The Sun and the photographer. The Court disagreed and held that there was no copyright in the scene itself. As always an interesting point was raised by the Judge but no ruling given. The Judge distinguished Noel Gallagher's ephemeral composition, which was assembled, photographed and then disassembled, from installation art but did not then state whether installation art is with or without copyright protection. The Judge also ruled that photographer for The Sun had not infringed the copyright in the photos taken by the photographer working for Oasis.