USA/CHINA: JUDITH SOLTESZ-BENETTON FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST PENTHOUSE MAGAZINE AFTER IT PUBLISHED NUDE PHOTGRAPHS OF HER WITHOUT PERMISSION AND CLAIMED THEY WERE OF ANNA KOURNIKOVA
Record ID:
229781
USA/CHINA: JUDITH SOLTESZ-BENETTON FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST PENTHOUSE MAGAZINE AFTER IT PUBLISHED NUDE PHOTGRAPHS OF HER WITHOUT PERMISSION AND CLAIMED THEY WERE OF ANNA KOURNIKOVA
- Title: USA/CHINA: JUDITH SOLTESZ-BENETTON FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST PENTHOUSE MAGAZINE AFTER IT PUBLISHED NUDE PHOTGRAPHS OF HER WITHOUT PERMISSION AND CLAIMED THEY WERE OF ANNA KOURNIKOVA
- Date: 14th May 2002
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 14, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. COVER OF PENTHOUSE, SHOWING WRITING PROMOTING ANNA KOURNIKOVA PHOTOS 2. FEDERAL COURTHOUSE RECENT (VNR - ACCESS ALL) 3. VARIOUS OF KOURNIKOVA SHOOTING ADVERTISEMENT 4. JUDITH SOLTESZ-BENETTON, DAUGHTER IN LAW OF ITALIAN DESIGNER LUCIANO BEN
- Embargoed: 29th May 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / TOKYO, JAPAN / HONG KONG, CHINA
- City:
- Country: China
- Reuters ID: LVA1IGHL1KKTNL2OCYVK7XU0LPN5
- Story Text: It could be one of the most expensive cases of mistaken
identity. The June issue of Penthouse Magazine boasts nude
pictures of Russian tennis beauty, Anna Kournikova, but
actually depicts the daughter-in-law of Italian fashion
designer Luciano Benetton. Now, both women are suing the
magazine.
Judith Soltesz-Benetton, the daughter-in-law of Italian
fashion designer Luciano Benetton, filed a lawsuit in
Manhattan's federal court against Penthouse Magazine on
Tuesday.
The suit, which seeks more than $10 million in damages,
alleges that the photographs were published without the
plaintiff's authorization and caused her great embarrassment
and humiliation.
Penthouse allegedly obtained photographs of Soltesz-Benetton
sunbathing topless in Miami about seven years
ago. The suit claims the magazine published a dozen pictures
of the plaintiff, misidentifying her as tennis superstar Anna
Kournikova.
Leaving the courthouse, Soltesz-Bennetton refused to
comment. The magazine got the images from a video taken by an
amateur photographer. The grainy photos appear in the June
issue, whose cover carries the headline "Exclusive Anna
Kournikova Caught Close Up on Nude Beach,". It hit news
stands last Tuesday and some 1.2 million copies are in
circulation.
Penthouse said that before deciding to run the
photographs it examined a video of the woman sunbathing and
compared it with photographs of Kournikova.
It also interviewed the photographer, in fact a St Louis
jewelry salesman, who shot the film. Frank Ramaesiri said he
mistook the woman for Anna Kournikova because of the diameter
of her nipples.
Penthouse publisher, Bob Guccione, denied deliberately
publishing false material. He spent several hours detailing to
the court how he spent five or six days studying the video and
cross referencing it with thousands of news photos of the
Russian tennis star.
After the suit was filed, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin
barred the magazine from posting the photographs on its
Internet Web site. He also ordered that no further copies of
the magazine be distributed before a hearing next week.
Penthouse said in the press release that it
misidentified Kournikova and the photographs were pictures of
"another woman" and that it offers "heartfelt apologies to
both women."
"In over 30 years of publishing this magazine we have
never made an error of anything approaching this magnitude. We
can only say, 'We're sorry' to the two women," Penthouse said
in a written statement.
Last week, Penthouse Magazine apologised for
misidentifying Anna Kournikova as a woman pictured topless in
its June issue, but a spokesman for the Russian tennis star
said she had filed a lawsuit against the magazine despite the
apology.
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