Märtha Louise meeting in court

[norwegianne]

The book "Seeing Angels" by Emma Heathcote-James (published in 2001) has recently been translated into Norwegian. The Norwegian title is "Märthas Engler" (Märtha's angels) and a two page foreword about Märtha and the angels and that whole situation is all about Märtha Louise in the book. Yet, she is still the one on the cover of the Norwegian version of the book. Permission to use her image for this commercial purpose has not been obtained by the publisher.

The author has mentioned in Norwegian papers that she has no clue about who the Norwegian princess is, and sounded a bit miffed about not having been asked about the changing by the princess, until she was told that the princess was actually not involved in this.

Her attorney appealed to the courts about retracting the book and removing Märtha's image from the cover - and was granted that it shouldn't be published. The publishing company, naturally, don't want this to be the final word in the matter, and now, according to her attorney, Märtha Louise will appear in court on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

The princess' attorney describes the use of Märtha's image and name as cynical speculation, because she is not involved with the book at all.

The other part claims that Märtha does not have monopoly on the angels (thus missing the entire point of the case). Staff - the attorney representing the other part, doesn't think Märtha has a monopoly on deciding how she wants her own face to be represented judging by how it is used in this case. He goes on to describe her as a tough business woman who have turned her faith in angels into a business.

The head of the Norwegian Press association, Kokkvold, and the head of the publisher's association has mentioned that it is very problematic that the publisher have failed to get approval to use the picture before using it.
http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=172815

It's a difficult situation because the Norwegian royals don't usually lend their name to commercial purposes, yet by stepping outside the royal circle when she started her own business - Märtha is essentially working for commercial purposes. The problem is more in line with celebrities - when you use a celebrity to promote something, they usually are compensated for it in some manner - and have some way of choosing what they want to promote.

Any thoughts?

 

[fanletizia]

HORTEN 20071002 Princess Martha Louise of Norway arrives for a court hearing at the Hortens Court in the city of Horten , Norway, October 2, 2007. The court will decide if a book with a picture of the Princess on the cover will be withdrawn from the market. The book is titled "Martha’s Angels. Its the first time in Norwegian history that a member of the Royal family appears in court


ANP Beeldbank
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ANP Beeldbank

 

[norwegianne]

"I feel commercially exposed and abused," the princess said. "Normally I have a fairly high tolerance for critique and being talked about. It happens a lot. I have no problem with this. A book that is published for the sake of making money, and thus abusing my name and image is something quite different."

There was also a mention of a conflic between Märtha and film reviewer
Pål Bang-Hansen. He owns the copyright of some of the fairytales that are in Märtha's new book, and have not been asked by her if it is okay to use them. This has led to him calling her a hypocrite and a thief in as many newspapers as he could get access to, it appears... Märtha says that the slip-up is unfortunate, but that it isn't her responsibility to check on copyright - it is her publisher who was supposed to do that.

- Jeg er misbrukt

 

[Her_Majesty]

I really wonder how she wants to manage to get out of the whole story...
It all really looks so naiv to me: What did she think when she started the "Angel"-school? That the people will scream "Wow!" and "Bravo!"? I think she should have expected that there'll be many people making jokes about her and using her name for promotional reasons...
I don't think it's ok to use her name and photo to promote a book... but IMO it's more or less her own fault...
as I said: I wonder how she'll get out of the spotlight-of-critics and the whole story...

 

[Mandy]

Here's an English article from Aftenposten. It appears that Märtha Louise's secretary has been in contact with Pål Bang-Hansen and offered to delete the fairy tales in questions.

 

[Regina]

It seems Martha Louise is not having an easy time lately. First with her angels-school, now with the books. I hope she can be sucessful in court.

 

[norwegianne]

Agreement between Märtha and the publishing company. They will remove her picture from the cover - but the title will remain as it is, and the publishing company will pay 150,000 Norwegian Kroner (close to $27,600) to the charity the princess named: this year's telethon on NRK, where UNICEF is the organization benefitting. The money from the telethon will go to children around the world who have HIV/AIDS.

Publicom og Märtha inngår forlik

 

[dazzling]

Well shocking news & i would like to know how the family are reacting to this.
From the very start of the angel stuff, i think Martha thought that she would get better publicity imo which turned the other way.
I think she being a member of the family, she should thig twice in what she wants to do next time.

 

[Her_Majesty]

From the very start of the angel stuff, i think Martha thought that she would get better publicity imo which turned the other way.
I think she being a member of the family, she should thig twice in what she wants to do next time.

I agree... I don't know, but all of her last Interviews sounded a bit like she didn't really think about what she says...
It's sad to see how Märtha Louise gets more and more into this stories and ruins her whole image...

 

[sylla]

I like to tell her "enough already". All that controversy is not becoming for a princess. I think I would feel kinder toward her if she was using her married name of Martha Louise Behn. Out of respect for her family, if nothing else.

 

[dazzling]

Princess settles court case

Princess Martha Louise settled a legal claim she brought against a small Norwegian publishing company, before a local court south of Oslo had a chance to rule in the case - full article

Princess responds

Princess Märtha Louise has clarified her remarks about equal wages for men and women in Norway, and received support from an economist - full article

 

[dazzling]

King finally comments on daughter's exploits

King Harald has kept quiet during the recent storm of controversy around his daughter, Princess Märtha Louise. On Monday, he finally addressed her exploits and defended her, like most dads would do - article

 

[Empress]

Well, she has seemed to be a bit more the rabble rouser for lack of a better term in this family. I like her, although she does not really seem all that comfortable in her roll as princess. I wonder if she would have been happier as just a normal woman??

 

[norwegianne]

Well, she has seemed to be a bit more the rabble rouser for lack of a better term in this family. I like her, although she does not really seem all that comfortable in her roll as princess. I wonder if she would have been happier as just a normal woman??

I see it like - if she wanted to be just a normal woman, there was nothing preventing her from becoming just plain Märtha Louise Behn - with the honorific Princess in front as her aunts (to dispel any rumours that the King didn't like his son-in-law).

But she has really had a long time in finding out what she wanted to do with her life - educated physical therapist, wanted a career in riding, then briefly singing, telling fairytales, writing, communicating with angels.

 

[dazzling]

Martha seems to be kind-off lost just like Stephanie of Monaco as a young lady, not knowing what direction she should go in. Maybe after the court meeting etc she'll think abit more about what she should really do rather than just jumping into something out of the blue. maybe this was a lesson for her