Topless photos ruling: 1st battle in privacy war

A French court ruled in favor of the royal couple on Tuesday in their fight over the photos, but the scope of that ruling will be limited.

The unauthorized topless photos of Kate have already been widely published in France, Italy, Ireland and on the Internet — lessening the impact of Tuesday's court injunction against future publication inside France.

The royals' strong stance also included a bid to persuade French prosecutors to launch a criminal inquiry to target the offending photographer.

The wealthy royal couple did not gain much on paper — the court-imposed fine was about $2,500 — but legal experts and royal watchers say the action was designed to demonstrate their willingness to use all legal means to prevent future press intrusion.

That will become even more important when the couple have a child, who would become third in the line of succession to the British throne, said Joe Little, the managing editor of Majesty magazine.

"This was done because they want to set a benchmark for the future," he said.

"They want to send a warning to anybody who might think of doing something similar in the future."

The fast legal intervention, which developed within hours of the publication of the photos Friday in a French gossip magazine, represents a break from Queen Elizabeth II's traditional policy of using legal action only as a means of last resort. It also reflects William's determination not to let the press harass Kate as it did his late mother, Princess Diana, Little said.

Still, the case shows the unlikelihood of controlling photos through legal means once they have been published.

Closer magazine was ordered to turn over all of its digital copies of the photos, but that has little meaning in a world where millions of copies can be made and distributed in the blink of an eye.

The revealing pictures will follow Middleton for the rest of her life — not unlike the snapshots of her appearance in a charity fashion show wearing black lingerie and a sheer dress during her university days.

"Clearly, the harm has been done," said Christopher Mesnooh, an American lawyer working in France for Field Fisher Waterhouse. "Thousands, now tens of thousands of copies, are now in public circulation. A legal decision is a wonderful thing to obtain and the royal couple did exactly what they should have done. But you know the magazine is out there and I suspect most of you have already seen copies of that magazine, so the basic, the initial harm, has been done."