NEW YORK: The $115 million a Florida jury awarded to Hulk Hogan on Friday may seem like a big blow to the website Gawker, but the media company could ultimately prevail in its court battle with the flamboyant wrestler, legal experts say.

Hogan had sued the website for posting an intimate video clip in 2012.

Both sides cast the case as a crucial test of the balance between the right to privacy and freedom of the press in the digital age, when a celebrity sex tape can reach millions of viewers with one click of a button.

“The jury’s decision is somewhat of a black box,” said Mary-Rose Papandrea, a University of North Carolina law professor who previously represented the National Enquirer, a tabloid known for its aggressive reporting on celebrity scandals. “It will be much more interesting and much more important as a legal issue to see what the appellate court says.”

Hogan had argued that Gawker ignored basic journalistic ethics by failing to contact him before publishing and violated his privacy.

“What’s disturbing about Gawker isn’t what they do in a vacuum,” said Kenneth Turkel, one of Hogan’s lawyers, during his closing argument. “It’s how proud they are of it.”

Gawker countered that Hogan’s own penchant for publicly describing his private life in detail had made the tape fair game.

“He has consistently chosen to put his own private life out there, over and over,” Michael Sullivan, Gawker’s lawyer, told jurors on Friday.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, testified at trial that he made those comments while in character, not as part of his real-life persona. Gawker’s attorneys argued that Hogan was drawing a meaningless distinction.

David Marburger, a Cleveland attorney who represents media clients, compared Hogan to Donald Trump, another larger-than-life figure who has bragged about his male prowess as part of his public image.

In Marburger’s view, a private video of Trump would be newsworthy because of references the Republican presidential hopeful made about his private parts during a presidential debate.

The jury could still add punitive damages next week after both sides have a chance to present more evidence.