Royal Family, 1; Closer, 0: French Court Bans Publishing Kate Middleton Topless Pics

Tue, 09/18/2012 - 06:07 by McCarton

More: Prince William, Kate Middleton, topless, Lawsuit, Closer magazine, Mondadori, Laurence Pieau

Lesson learned: What the Royal family wants, the Royal family gets!

A French court has ruled in favor of Prince William and Kate Middleton, calling for a ban of further publication of Kate's topless pics in any French magazine. In addition, Closer editor Laurence Pieau will be ordered to turn over the original photos to William and Kate within 24 hours or face a fine of $10,000 per day of non-compliance. According to Huffington Post, Closer's parent company, Mondadori, owned by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, will also have to pay $2,500 towards legal fees.

The ruling isn't enough for Prince William though! There is now a separate criminal investigation that Closer and a photographer breached the privacy of the Duke and Duchess by publishing the topless photos. If convicted, the magazine could be fined up to $56,000 and Laurence could go to jail for up to a year! However, many believe that pursuing jail time will work against the Royal family. "I think it's a very dangerous path indeed if it comes out that a member of a European Royal Family is pursuing a reporter or journalist in order to imprison them. It will not play well with public opinion outside the UK," said media law expert David Banks.

But while there is a ban on further publication of the photos in France, the pics can be released by magazines in other countries if they feel it's worth the legal fees. And of course, the photos are more than out in the open now. "There were 211 million results for the pictures on Google. The pictures are in the public domain," said David. "it makes absolutely no difference, in practical terms, to people seeing the photos which are freely available on the internet, unless there are more pictures we don't know about, which now cannot be published." Either way, it's safe to say the "intimate" pics YouPorn made an offer on will not see the light of day!

What do you think the court's ruling?

Photos courtesy of Getty Images

2 Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

She shouldn't have gone topless and this never would have happened.

Tue, 09/18/2012 - 12:02

EM (not verified)

People should should be allowed to bare all in the privacy of their homes or their friends' homes without some creepy paparazzi photographing them from a hiding place. That's just wrong. However, if you know that some day you will be the next Queen of England, then why the heck would you take off your top on a boat in the first place? She should always assume there's someone out there taking pics.

Wed, 09/19/2012 - 11:26