http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-10-29-voodoo-dolls-france_N.htm?csp=34
Court refuses to ban voodoo dolls of French leader
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Voodoo dolls depicting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and former socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal are seen in Paris.
Enlarge image Enlarge By Jacques Brinon, AP
Voodoo dolls depicting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and former socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal are seen in Paris.
PARIS (AP) — A Paris court has seen a funny side to hot-selling voodoo dolls of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, refusing his lawyer's request to order them pulled from sale.
Sarkozy's attorney had argued that the president — like any French person — owns the right to his own image under the law. But publishing house K&B Editions, which markets the doll, said humor is part of freedom of expression.
The court ruled Wednesday in the firm's favor, saying the doll was deliberately aimed to be "satire and humor."
"Nicolas Sarkozy: The Voodoo Manual" kit costs $16.54 and includes a handbook and 12 pins. The blue-colored doll shows Sarkozy's face on a body covered with some of his most famous — and infamous — quips.
The publishing house sells a similar doll of Socialist Segolene Royal, who lost to Sarkozy in presidential elections in 2007. She did not file suit.
In their ruling, the judges recognized that inciting people to stick pins in dolls may be distasteful to some but added that it was not their role to be arbiters of "good or bad taste."
They noted the "willingly fantastic and burlesque" way in which the accompanying manual tells users how to spike the doll, and said it targeted not Sarkozy himself but his "ideas and political positions, as well as his comments and public behavior."
The head of the publishing house, Jean-Francois Kowalski, told Associated Press Television News earlier this month the dolls were meant to be funny. He said Sarkozy's opposition to the doll was unexpected, "especially considering that back in 2006 the president declared that he would rather have more caricatures than more censorship."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081029/od_afp/francepoliticssarkozyvoodoooffbeat_081029162325
Sarkozy loses case against voodoo doll
PARIS (AFP) – A French court on Wednesday dismissed a much-mocked attempt by President Nicolas Sarkozy to have a comedy voodoo doll bearing his image banned from sale.
Earlier this month, the French leader lodged a complaint against the doll, which is on sale in a kit containing needles to spear it with and a satirical biography, immediately boosting sales of the item.
It was the president's sixth lawsuit since he was elected last year and caused widespread mirth in France, generating acres of free publicity for the doll and cheering his political opponents.
"I have a sense of humour," said Segolene Royal, Sarkozy's Socialist opponent in last year's election, when asked if she planned to take action against her own voodoo doll, which is sold alongside Sarkozy's.
For his part, the judge at the high court in Paris ruled that the doll falls within "the authorised limits of free expression and the right to humour."
Court refuses to ban voodoo dolls of French leader
Posted 1d 7h ago | Comment | Recommend E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this
Voodoo dolls depicting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and former socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal are seen in Paris.
Enlarge image Enlarge By Jacques Brinon, AP
Voodoo dolls depicting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and former socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal are seen in Paris.
PARIS (AP) — A Paris court has seen a funny side to hot-selling voodoo dolls of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, refusing his lawyer's request to order them pulled from sale.
Sarkozy's attorney had argued that the president — like any French person — owns the right to his own image under the law. But publishing house K&B Editions, which markets the doll, said humor is part of freedom of expression.
The court ruled Wednesday in the firm's favor, saying the doll was deliberately aimed to be "satire and humor."
"Nicolas Sarkozy: The Voodoo Manual" kit costs $16.54 and includes a handbook and 12 pins. The blue-colored doll shows Sarkozy's face on a body covered with some of his most famous — and infamous — quips.
The publishing house sells a similar doll of Socialist Segolene Royal, who lost to Sarkozy in presidential elections in 2007. She did not file suit.
In their ruling, the judges recognized that inciting people to stick pins in dolls may be distasteful to some but added that it was not their role to be arbiters of "good or bad taste."
They noted the "willingly fantastic and burlesque" way in which the accompanying manual tells users how to spike the doll, and said it targeted not Sarkozy himself but his "ideas and political positions, as well as his comments and public behavior."
The head of the publishing house, Jean-Francois Kowalski, told Associated Press Television News earlier this month the dolls were meant to be funny. He said Sarkozy's opposition to the doll was unexpected, "especially considering that back in 2006 the president declared that he would rather have more caricatures than more censorship."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081029/od_afp/francepoliticssarkozyvoodoooffbeat_081029162325
Sarkozy loses case against voodoo doll
PARIS (AFP) – A French court on Wednesday dismissed a much-mocked attempt by President Nicolas Sarkozy to have a comedy voodoo doll bearing his image banned from sale.
Earlier this month, the French leader lodged a complaint against the doll, which is on sale in a kit containing needles to spear it with and a satirical biography, immediately boosting sales of the item.
It was the president's sixth lawsuit since he was elected last year and caused widespread mirth in France, generating acres of free publicity for the doll and cheering his political opponents.
"I have a sense of humour," said Segolene Royal, Sarkozy's Socialist opponent in last year's election, when asked if she planned to take action against her own voodoo doll, which is sold alongside Sarkozy's.
For his part, the judge at the high court in Paris ruled that the doll falls within "the authorised limits of free expression and the right to humour."
