PARIS (AFP) - President Nicolas Sarkozy and Frances new first lady Carla Bruni on Tuesday won a lawsuit filed against Irish budget airline Ryanair for featuring a photo of the couple in an ad campaign.
The Paris court ordered Ryanair to pay Bruni 60,000 euros (90,000 dollars) in damages, well short of the 500,000 euros the former supermodel-turned-pop star was seeking for the use of her image without her consent.
Sarkozy was awarded a symbolic sum of one euro in damages, as he had requested.
The advertisement, printed last week, featured a photograph of the couple smiling dreamily while a caption next to Bruni reads "With Ryanair, my whole family can come to my wedding."
The airline, based in Dublin, was also ordered to have the court ruling printed in Le Parisien newspaper, where the ad appeared last week.
The 53-year-old Sarkozys highly-publicised whirlwind romance with the 40-year-old Bruni was clinched by their wedding last weekend.
Brunis lawyer had accused Ryanair of harming Brunis image as a "model, composer and singer of talent", saying she "has the right to choose her advertisers."
Ryanairs lawyer had drawn attention to the light-humoured nature of the ad, while presenting the companys "deep" apologies to the couple.
In December, Ryanair reached an out-of-court settlement with Swedens former prime minister Goeran Persson for using his picture in an ad campaign without his consent.
That ad showed Persson and ex-foreign minister Laila Frievalds under the caption "Time to flee the country?" after the government was shaken by a crisis of confidence.
Britains advertising watchdog last week rapped the Irish low-cost airline for a flights promotion that showed a young woman dressed like a schoolgirl.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 13 complaints from readers who found it offensive.
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