French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is taking a clothing company to court to stop it from selling a shopping bag featuring a photo of the former supermodel in the nude¹, a lawyer said Friday

French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is taking a clothing company to court to stop it from selling a shopping bag featuring a photo of the former supermodel in the nude, a lawyer said Friday.

The white canvas bags went on sale this month on the French island of Reunion, produced by local clothing firm Pardon which plans to sell them throughout France soon, said Pardon manager Peter Mertes.

A court in the Reunion capital of Saint-Denis on Monday heard the request from President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife to ban sales of the bag.

"This bag makes use of Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy's image without her consent and for commercial gain," said Iqbal Akhoun, a spokesman in Saint-Denis for the first lady's lawyer Thierry Herzog.

The 40-year-old former supermodel is also seeking 125,000 euros (US$167,000) in damages from Pardon, which she would donate to charity, he added.

The bag features a black-and-white picture of Bruni-Sarkozy taken from a famous 1993 photo of the model standing² upright in the nude that fetched US$91,000 at a New York auction³ earlier this year.

A talk bubble on the bag next to the first lady reads "My boyfriend should have bought me Pardon". The item sells for three euros.

Pardon boss Mertes told reporters his company had manufactured 10,000 'Carla' bags and that most of them were gifts to clients who bought other products.

Mertes said he was entitled to use the photo because Bruni-Sarkozy is a public figure.

The case comes two weeks after a Paris appeals court ordered that a Sarkozy voodoo doll be sold with a label describing it as offensive to the president, but refused to ban the novelty.

That decision overturned a lower court ruling that found the doll sold with needles and an instruction manual fell "within the authorised limits of free expression and the right to humour."

 法国第一夫人卡拉•布吕尼-萨科奇做模特时拍摄的一张裸照被一家制衣公司印在购物袋上，据律师于上周五介绍，布吕尼已将这家公司告上法庭，要求其停止销售这批产品。

这款印有第一夫人裸照的白色帆布包由位于法国留尼旺岛的帕尔顿（Pardon）制衣公司“出品”。据公司经理彼得•莫特斯介绍，公司已于本月在当地推出这款包，而且打算不久后在全国销售。

留尼旺岛首府圣德尼地方法院于本周一开庭审理此案，听取布吕尼要求禁止销售此产品的请求。

布吕尼的律师蒂埃里•赫尔佐格在圣德尼的发言人伊克巴尔·阿克霍恩说：“帕尔顿公司未经第一夫人本人许可，将她的照片用于商业目的。”

据他介绍，现年40岁的布吕尼向求帕尔顿公司索赔12.5万欧元（合16.7万美元），并打算把这笔钱捐给慈善机构。

帕尔顿公司盗用的这张黑白裸照是布吕尼1993年拍摄的，当时她还是个模特，照片上的布吕尼站在那里一丝不挂。在今年早些时候纽约的一次拍卖会上，这张裸照以9.1万美元的价格拍出。

裸照旁还印有一句广告：“喜欢我的人就应该买帕尔顿。”这款购物袋每个售价3欧元。

帕尔顿公司经理莫特斯在接受记者采访时称，公司共生产了一万个“卡拉”购物袋，其中大多数都是随产品附赠。

莫特斯辩解说，布吕尼是公众人物，所以公司有权使用她的照片。

两周前，一款以萨科奇总统为原型的“巫毒娃娃”现身巴黎，当地一家上诉法院裁决这款玩具加上标签，表示它冒犯了总统，但是并没有对这款玩具下达禁售令。

这推翻了此前低一级法院有关玩具制造“应在言论自由和幽默权所允许的范围之内”的裁决。“巫毒娃娃”在销售时还有配有针和一本说明书。