The BBC will not have to hand over footage of the aftermath of the shooting of Mark Duggan, the man whose killing sparked the London riots.
Father-of-four Duggan was shot dead by police in August 2011 after they stopped the cab in which he was travelling.
Police applied for the broadcaster's footage as part of an investigation into 29-year-old Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, a man accused of supplying a gun to the Tottenham man.
On Thursday, Judge David Radford ruled footage of the material would not be relevant to the police.
A BBC spokesperson said: "We are pleased with the ruling which upholds important journalistic principles. Requests for BBC untransmitted material are dealt through our legal department, regardless of the subject matter."
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is currently compiling a report that will be passed to a coroner in the autumn.
An inquest into Duggan's death is due to take place in January but there is a possibility that some evidence about police operations will need to be heard in secret, which would mean that a special type of public inquiry would need to be held instead.