Kate Middleton Photos: Legal Victory Against Closer France After Nude Chi Magazine Release
Kate Middleton and Prince William have won an injunction against Closer magazine on Tuesday, Sept. 18.
The royal couple won the legal victory in the historic case at Tribunal de Grande Instance, a French court in Nanterre, Paris.
The judge issued the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge a court order that prevents the French Closer office from running any more photos of Middleton sunbathing topless in print and online.
"These snapshots which showed the intimacy of a couple, partially naked on the terrace of a private home, surrounded by a park several hundred meters from a public road, and being able to legitimately assume that they are protected from passers-by, are by nature particularly intrusive," said the French court during the ruling, according to Sky News. "(They) were thus subjected to this brutal display the moment the cover appeared."
The injuction lists many other stipulations in the court order:
-France Closer must release all of the images they purchased of the royal couple within 24 hours
-If not, the company will be fined $13,000 every single day the images are still in their possession
-They will be fined $130,000 every time they sell the images to another company that has yet to publish them
-They must remove the images from their website immediately
-They must recoup the royal couple's legal fees of approximately $2,600
The royal couple's legal attorney Aurelien Hamelle argued that a photographer captured "deeply personal" photos of them as they shared a "healthy and profoundly intimate" moment during their personal vacation in a villa in southern France.
The attorneys are also seeking criminal action against the editor of France Closer and the photographer who took the photos. They are looking to have both put on trial and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. A French prosecutor has already begun a request for a criminal investigation.
"Basically, Kate and William have got everything they asked for," said Sky news Correspondent Michelle Clifford.
The French edition of Closer ran Middleton's topless photos on the cover of their magazine on Friday, September 14.
The Irish Daily Star printed the same photos on Saturday and the magazine's editor Micahel O'Kane was reportedly suspended.
On Monday, Sept. 17, Chi, an Italian magazine, ran 200 photos of Middleton in a 26-page spread. Both Closer and Chi are owned by Mondadori.
Mondadori is owned by former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
French Closer magazine editor Laurence Pieaus had spoken out, defending her decision to run the photos.
"These photos are not in the least shocking," said Pieaus. "These are pictures that are full of joy. They are not degrading. Similarities have been drawn with the pictures of Prince Harry. They are not similar. These are not degrading."
Chi magazine editor Alfonso Signorini admits he did not get permission from Berlusconi to run the controversial images. "I make the ultimate decision on what appears in Chi magazine - and to be honest Berlusconi has a lot more to worry about than Kate Middleton."
