Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has been awarded €40, 000 in damages from Pardon, a fashion company who distributed shopping bags featuring her nude image. The photograph which adorns the totes was taken in 1993 when the French First Lady was a supermodel. The sum is short of the €125, 000 the French beauty was seeking, but still nothing to sneeze at.
The judge ruled that the tote bag “neither justifies nor even evokes the benefit of any authorization by Mme Carla Bruni for the use of her image in a promotional operation.”
Ms Bruni-Sarkozy’s lawyers have confirmed their client will donate the compensation to charity. Meanwhile Pardon are planning to appeal the court’s decision.
“Forty thousand euros is a lot for a little bit of mischief,” said the company’s founder Peter Mertes.
It is a lot of cash, but it’s also a pretty clear case of violating image ownership rights, isn’t it? I wouldn’t expect Pardon to be pardoned over this case!
