The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge won
a landmark legal case yesterday blocking further publication of topless
photographs of Kate.Judges
banned French magazine Closer from selling or republishing the pictures
and said its decision to use them had been a ‘brutal’ invasion of the
couple’s privacy.
However,
the injunction was branded a ‘hollow victory’ because more than 500,000
copies of the magazine have already been sold, about 100,000 more then
normal.And there were fears that the ruling
would do little to halt the worldwide spread of the pictures because the
magazine does not own the copyright.
A freelance photographer based in
France is understood to have taken the ‘particularly intrusive’ pictures
and sold them to Closer. He or she is thought to own the copyright.
The French judicial system has so far been unable to discover the name of the photographer.
As a result, no injunction banning
him from selling the pictures in France or around the world can be put
in place. This means that although William and Kate have won their
hearing, they have been unable to ban any future sales.
The judges said the magazine’s use of the photos was a ‘brutal exhibition’ of the couple’s intimacy.Last night a French legal source told
the Mail: ‘This ruling is all about stopping Closer from publishing
more pictures. Although it is an important legal step for William and
Kate, it doesn’t stop more pictures from being published because we
can’t find the photographer. To some extent it’s a hollow victory.
‘However, a French judge would
certainly take a dim view of any French paper or magazine which decided
to print the pictures after this ruling.’In a written judgment handed down at
the Tribunal de Grand Instance in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, judges
agreed that the couple ‘could legitimately suppose’ the chateau they
were staying in ‘was sheltered from prying eyes’.
Closer magazine was also ordered to
hand over all files containing the intimate images to representatives of
the couple within 24 hours.Mondadori Magazines France, the
glossy magazine’s publisher, faces a fine of £8,000 for every day it
refuses to hand over the pictures.
The company was also ordered to pay
£1,600 in court costs. Such sums are meagre given the huge success of
the latest edition of Closer, which features the pictures of a topless
Kate.
Closer will be fined £80,000 if it
sells the pictures to another publication, the judgment states.
Publication of the photos, taken in Provence on September 5, was also
banned ‘on digital tablets’. Royal lawyers did not ask for any remaining
copies of the magazine to be removed from newsagents because ‘the
damage has already been done’.
Last night a royal source said William and Kate were delighted with the decision.‘They welcome the injunction that’s
been granted,’ the source said. ‘They always believed the law was broken
and that they were entitled to their privacy.’
The Duke and Duchess have also filed a
criminal complaint under France’s privacy laws. If Closer is found
guilty it could be fined up to £36,000 and its editor could, in theory
at least, serve up to a year in prison.
