French President Nicolas Sarkozy has lost his legal case against the makers of a Sarkozy voodoo doll. He filed a lawsuit last week after the doll went on sale, arguing that the product was an unauthorised reproduction of his image.
The lawsuit made the doll a bestseller, and the case was dismissed yesterday. The doll is accompanied by twelve pins and a book of instructions, Nicolas Sarkozy: Le manuel vaudou (‘the voodoo manual’), written by Yaël Rolognese, which also features a satirical biography of Sarkozy.
The lawsuit made the doll a bestseller, and the case was dismissed yesterday. The doll is accompanied by twelve pins and a book of instructions, Nicolas Sarkozy: Le manuel vaudou (‘the voodoo manual’), written by Yaël Rolognese, which also features a satirical biography of Sarkozy.
Sarkozy has been particularly litigious and protective of his public image. He sued Ryanair earlier this year after it used a photograph of him and his wife Carla Bruni in a newspaper advert; Bruni was awarded €60,000 in damages on 5th February, while Sarkozy received only a token €1. (The advert appeared only once, in Le Parisien, on 28th January.)
Another lawsuit this year was also rather petty. Sarkozy sued the distributors of a t-shirt that featured his surname as a target, though the shirt was on sale only at a market in the town of Albertville.
Another lawsuit this year was also rather petty. Sarkozy sued the distributors of a t-shirt that featured his surname as a target, though the shirt was on sale only at a market in the town of Albertville.
In 2005, publication of a biography of Sarkozy’s then-wife, Cécilia, was cancelled after Sarkozy met with the publisher and, allegedly, threatened legal action. All copies of the book, written by Valerie Domain, were pulped, and the manuscript was wiped from the publisher’s computer system. This year, Cécilia herself attempted to block the sale of another biography, Cécilia by Anna Britton, though her injunction was rejected on 10th January and the book was published.