A French judge yesterday upheld the right of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his new bride, Carla Bruni, to control the use of their image. Judge Louis-Marie Raingeard ordered Ryanair to pay a symbolic €1 in damages to Mr Sarkozy and €60,000 to Ms Bruni.
The couple filed a lawsuit against Ryanair on January 28th, the day Le Parisien newspaper published their photograph with a cartoon bubble coming out of Ms Bruni's mouth saying, "With Ryanair, my whole family can come to my wedding". Ryanair said it accepted the decision and offered to pay a further €60,000 to a French charity chosen by Mr Sarkozy.
"Ryanair had already confirmed that this advert will not run again," Peter Sherrard said on behalf of the company. He noted that the single advert generated "extraordinary worldwide publicity". The airline did not know that Mr Sarkozy and Ms Bruni would marry on February 2nd, but their wedding had been expected since early January.
They filed separate lawsuits. Ms Bruni asked for €500,000 in damages; Mr Sarkozy for €1, a common practice when the plaintiff wants to make a moral point. When asked to explain the difference in the sums demanded, the Élysée spokesman David Martinon said: "For the president of the republic it's a question of principle" whereas "for Carla Bruni, it is her profession, her image, so she suffers a financial loss". Ms Bruni's lawsuit cited damage to her career as a "model, author, composer and talented performer".
Only once before has a French president sued for the use of his photograph. In 1970, Georges Pompidou won a case against L'Express magazine for publishing a photograph of him in an advert for motor boats.
Ryanair has frequently used the Taoiseach's image in its advertising, particularly in relation to the building of a second terminal at Dublin Airport. One such advertisement depicted Bertie Ahern with a Pinocchio-style nose.
But a Government spokesman said any decision on the part of the Taoiseach to sue the airline as Mr Sarkozy had done would be a "private matter".
A blind calypso musician and his band who were thrown off a Ryanair plane as suspected terrorists on New Year's Eve in 2006 were awarded £4,000 in damages yesterday.
Michael Toussaint and four members of the London-based Caribbean Steel International Orchestra were escorted off the plane at gunpoint in Sardinia by Italian police without warning or explanation and were not allowed back on, despite being cleared by the authorities within 20 minutes.
The band were offered a flight to Liverpool the following day.