## Facts

- Valérie Trierweiler, a journalist, was the partner of French President François Hollande.
- Trierweiler and Hollande vacationed at Fort Brégançon, a private presidential retreat on France’s southern coast.
- Photographs of Trierweiler and Hollande in bathing suits were taken without their consent while they were at the retreat.
- VSD, a weekly celebrity magazine published by VSD Company, ran the photographs in an article about the couple’s vacation, including use on the magazine’s cover.
- Trierweiler filed an emergency civil action in Paris (référé) alleging unlawful interference with her private life and unauthorized use of her image.
- Trierweiler sought damages (reported as €30,000), objecting to the nonconsensual nature of the images and their use to sell the magazine.
- VSD argued that it is common for the press to report on presidents’ vacations and characterized the photos as ordinary and respectful.

## Issues

1. Whether VSD’s publication of nonconsensual photographs showing Trierweiler in a bathing suit at Fort Brégançon unlawfully infringed her right to respect for private life and her right to control use of her image.
2. Whether public interest in reporting on the President’s vacation justified publishing those specific images, including on the cover, despite the private setting and lack of consent.

## Decision

- The Tribunal de grande instance de Paris ruled for Trierweiler in référé.
- The court found a “double” violation: an interference with Trierweiler’s private life and an infringement of her image rights based on publication of the unauthorized swimsuit photographs.
- The court rejected VSD’s argument that the images were justified by routine coverage of presidential vacations, finding that publishing Trierweiler in a bathing suit against her will was not necessary to inform the public.
- The court awarded Trierweiler €2,000 in damages, substantially less than the amount she sought.

## Legal Principles

- Under French civil law (including the protection of private life associated with Article 9 of the Civil Code), a person retains protection against unauthorized publication of private-life images, even when closely connected to a public official.
- The press may report on matters that interest the public, including a president’s vacation, but that does not automatically justify publishing intimate or leisure images that do not meaningfully add to public information.
- Unauthorized publication of a person’s photograph can constitute a separate wrong (infringement of the right to one’s image) and may also amount to an interference with private life; the two can be found together on the same facts.
- Images portraying a person in a bathing suit may be treated as non-trivial when the person has not consented to be shown in that attire, and publication in that form can weigh strongly toward liability.
- Use of such images on a magazine cover can increase the impact of the interference by expanding dissemination and tying the person’s image to commercial sales.

## Conclusion

The Tribunal de grande instance de Paris held that VSD’s publication of unauthorized bathing-suit photographs of Valérie Trierweiler taken during a private vacation at Fort Brégançon violated both her privacy and her image rights, and it ordered VSD to pay €2,000 in damages because the photos were not necessary for legitimate public information.


Madame Valerie Trierweiler v. VSD Company, Tribunal de Grande Instance Paris (2012)