A long-running legal battle between rival celebrity magazines over photos taken at the 2000 wedding of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones will be heard in Britain's highest court on Monday.

Judges in the House of Lords will determine whether celebrity magazine Hello must pay rival publication OK after secretly taking photos at the Hollywood couple's wedding at New York's Plaza Hotel.

OK paid for exclusive coverage of the wedding and sued Hello after it published photos from the event.

In 2003, a judge awarded OK $2.24 million Cdn and the couple $31,715 in damages.

But last year Hello appealed the OK ruling and won, successfully arguing the practice of "spoiler" coverage was commonplace in journalism.

The wedding of Hollywood actor Douglas, now 62, to the Welsh actress 25 years his junior was an enormous event for the British celebrity magazines and tabloids. The two actors starred together later that year in the film Traffic, which would go on to win four Academy Awards.

Hello's appeal against the damages awarded Douglas and Zeta-Jones was dismissed.

During the 2003 High Court Hearing, Zeta-Jones said she felt "violated" by unflattering photos of her, including one of Douglas feeding her wedding cake.

"I don't usually like my husband shoving a spoon down my throat to be photographed," she said.

The couple is not expected to attend the weeklong hearing beginning Monday in front of the House of Lords.

cbc.ca