>>> we'll begin this half hour with an italian magazine publishing more images of the duchess of cambridge sunbathing topless in france . michelle kusinski joins us live.
>> reporter: while william and kate are trying to enjoy a trip to the south pacific , an italian magazine published more of the photos, more than 20 of them and lawyers will be in court today beginning a battle against these publications. colorful, exuberant trip it's been for william and kate in asia. continuing their say in the solomon islands embraced by the people. kate even wore a dress given to her as a gift and a nearly constant smile. details and moment the world would be focusing on if it weren't for the images snapped earlier this month in france when the couple believed they were in no one's company by their own. they were here on the terrace of a royal relative's chateau. the photographer reportedly several hundred yards away with a long lens and a clear view. today lawyers for the couple will appear in a french court seeking criminal charges , arguing that privacy was breached, her image damaged by the circulation of these photos of kate sunbathing topless. so far accessible in france , ireland, italy and certain u.s. websites. no publisher in the uk has touched them and british companies with a joint venture with the irish newspaper that ran them is now considering cutting ties.
>> we're frankly horfive-day their decision to do it. we're frankly furious with it.
>> reporter: a sentiment echoed by many, including princess diana 's best friend rosa monkton who witnessed press intrusion in her life until the night she died.
>> my first reaction was disbelief followed by anger because it showed me that nothing has changed since 15 years ago when diana died.
>> reporter: but the publications that ran the photos have staunchly defended themselves.
>> just a beautiful couple, an in-love couple.
>> she's not our future queen, and she won't, you know, and they are very good pics.
>> reporter: today an italian magazine plashd out with 42 pages, who apparent with 200 pickages and said a call from the queen herself would not stop them y.go to court over this? if will and kate are successful, fines could be levied, future publications could be stopped, current ones pulled. however, the publications have arguments, too, not in the privacy of their home, outdoors in the view of the road. whose image was harmed by these or perhaps was it just the opposite? once again, the question comes up why didn't their security see this coming? savannah?
>> all right. thank you. an attorney with field, fisher, waterhouse in france joins us this morning. sir, good morning to you.
>> good morning to you. let's talk about this lawsuit. do you think the royal family will be successful in this effort in france to get money damages assessed?
>> they should actually have no trouble demonstrating that there was a severe invasion of privacy while the royal couple was on vacation in the south of france , so, yes, i think the chances are very much on their side.
>> in some sense, of course, the damage has been done. the pictures are out. they have been published. so what is the remedy? is it just about money ?
>> well, there are several remedies possible in france . one would be damages, money , but i don't think that's what's at stake here. what the royal couple is looking for is an injunction which will prevent the magazine in question from publishing these photos on its internet website or from the magazine selling them to other magazines outside of france , and, again, the royal couple should be able to win on these requests.
>> as you mentioned, it's the injunction that's really the heart of this legal action , but in terms of the fines, do these publications look at it rather cynically and think, hey, it's worth it to pay that money and publish these photos that give us such notoriety.
>> very much so. it's a very cynical and business-oriented calculation. money damages in france tend to be a fraction of what they would be in the united states , so any magazine , which is doing a cost- benefit analysis , is going to tell itself we're better off publishing these photographs, selling a maximum number of issues, and then going to court and paying whatever damages we're going to have to pay.
>> what about criminal action against the photographer who shot the foeto, i suppose, for invasion of privacy?
>> yeah. if they could identify who the paparazzi is, they could go after him on criminal grounds, in other words, invasion of privacy, reaching into the private abody of the royal couple when they were on vacation, but we'll have to first figure out who the photographer was, and that's not necessarily going to be such an easy thing to do.
>> this italian publication that has published these photos this morning, how feasible is for the royal family to go publication, by publication, trying to get these photos from being published?
>> in europe there are at least 27 member states of the european union and if you have one magazine that wants to publish these photos they will have to go through 27 legal systems to get an injunction in each one. a french court would not be able to prohibit the publication in mag seines outside of france .
>> it's a complicated legal mess. thank you for your perspective this morning. we appreciate it.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/49063971/ns/today-today_news/
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