A French court on Tuesday banned Closer magazine from any further publication or distribution of photographs of the duchess of Cambridge sunbathing topless and ordered that the pictures be returned to the royals within 24 hours, dpa reported.
Failure to comply with the two measures would lead to a fine of 10,000 euros, the court in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre warned Mondadori in the ruling, according to Le Figaro and other media. The ruling was not made public.
Significantly, the court did not order Closer to withdraw copies of its September issue from newspaper kiosks. Nor did it ban the magazine from reprinting the edition, saying it was not in its powers to do so.
The injunction does not prevent newspapers outside France from publishing the photographs, which first appeared last week in Closer but have since appeared in an Irish tabloid and an Italian magazine.