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Judge refuses to issue injunction over Mosley video

A video of motor racing chief Max Mosley consorting with prostitutes ��� including a break for tea ��� reappeared on a British tabloid newspaper Web site on Wednesday, immediately after Britain���s High Court refused to issue an injunction against it.

Mosley, 67, has faced pressure to quit as president of the Federation Internationale de l���Automobile (FIA) since the News of the World ran a story last month claiming he took part in a five-hour sadomasochistic orgy with prostitutes that involved Nazi role-playing.

The FIA said on Wednesday that Mosley���s future would be decided in a confidence vote during a special general assembly in Paris on June 3.

He admits visiting the prostitutes, but denies there were Nazi overtones to the encounter. The allegations are particularly sensitive because Mosley is the son of the late Oswald Mosley, leader of Britain���s fascist movement before World War II and a friend of Adolf Hitler.

Mosley���s lawyers had sought an injunction to prevent the News of the World from posting covertly filmed footage of the orgy on its Web site.

But judge David Eady ruled the paper could post the 90-second clip. He said it contains ���shots of Mr. Mosley taking part in sexual activities with five prostitutes and it also covers the tea break.���

���The very brief extracts which I was shown seemed to consist mainly of people spanking each other���s bottoms,��� the judge said.

Eady said that, although the footage was ���intrusive and demeaning,��� it had been published so widely that granting an injunction against it ���would merely be a futile gesture.���

���The dam has effectively burst,��� the judge said.

Eady said that from the time the footage was posted on March 30 until it was removed by the newspaper the next day, it had been viewed more than 1.4 million times.

The News of the World immediately restored the video clip to its Web site on Wednesday.

Mosley is suing the News of the World���s parent company for breach of privacy. The case is due to be heard later this year.
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