It could be any other wedding video – the grinning couple dancing badly to hits from the Seventies surrounded by friends and family.

The video, however, ended in a court date for the cameraman and a fine of €60,101 (£53,700) for his employers after it emerged that he was a private detective who had gatecrashed the reception to gather evidence against the owners of the venue.

The detective had been employed by the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE), which protects the rights of musicians and artists to their work. The society suspected that the owners of La Doma restaurant, in San Juan de Aznal-farache, near Seville, had not paid royalties for the music that they were using for the reception.

The society was given a fine, imposed by the Spanish Data Protection Agency, for “breaching the intimacy” of the couple at the wedding reception in 2005. The issue is coming to light only now because the SGAE has stepped up its drive against venues it suspects of trying to avoid paying royalties.

A court in Seville, which heard the action, found that the video was inadmissible because it was “a clear violation of the constitutional rights to a person’s own image”. In his ruling the judge said that the footage clearly breached the privacy of the couple because it had been taken clandestinely. The restaurant was fined €43,179 for using music without paying copyright fees.

The SGAE allegedly used the same tactics against another venue hosting a wedding, in a case that is about to reach court. When the society prosecuted the Salón de Bodas, in El Vizir de Espartinas, Seville, it claimed that the video had been taken by one of the guests.

JoaquÍn Moeckel, a lawyer representing the venue, claimed that the footage still breached the privacy rights of the bride and groom.

Other wedding videos have been taken surreptitiously by SGAE investigators to pursue venues for not paying copyright fees. Pedro Farre, the director of the SGAE, said: “Using private detectives to investigate fraud is common. We will carry on doing it.”

There is much debate in Spain about who is entitled to privacy. Politicians are considered fair game but their private lives do not excite much attention. The Royal Family, footballers and bullfighters, however, are rarely out of the Spanish tabloids.

In October Telma Ortiz, 35, the sister-in-law of Prince Felipe, lost a case for a restraining order against 50 media organisations.

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