AFC1986
11-07-2006, 06:07 PM
credit: www.bbc.co.uk
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42285000/jpg/_42285078_federlinespearsap203ok.jpg
A US judge has dismissed a libel action brought by Britney Spears against a magazine that claimed she and her husband made a sexually explicit video.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole found no basis for the pop star's claim that the Us Weekly report, published in 2005, was defamatory.
Ms Spears and husband Kevin Federline denied filming the video and that they feared it would be made public.
They had sought $10m (£5.3m) in damages over the article.
'Acting goofy'
The judge said that because the singer had "put her modern sexuality squarely, and profitably, before the public eye", the article was unlikely to be considered defamatory.
The magazine report claimed that the couple watched the video with lawyers after a member of their entourage threatened to release the footage.
Ms Spears' legal team argued that was libellous because it "maliciously and recklessly portrays [Ms Spears] as acting 'goofy' while watching the video with the lawyers".
But Judge Cole said Ms Spears had not brought the libel action for being "falsely accused of acting goofy".
"The issue is whether it is defamatory to state that a husband and wife taped themselves engaging in consensual sex," she said.
Ms Spears, who has sold more than 60 million albums, married Federline in 2004.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42285000/jpg/_42285078_federlinespearsap203ok.jpg
A US judge has dismissed a libel action brought by Britney Spears against a magazine that claimed she and her husband made a sexually explicit video.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole found no basis for the pop star's claim that the Us Weekly report, published in 2005, was defamatory.
Ms Spears and husband Kevin Federline denied filming the video and that they feared it would be made public.
They had sought $10m (£5.3m) in damages over the article.
'Acting goofy'
The judge said that because the singer had "put her modern sexuality squarely, and profitably, before the public eye", the article was unlikely to be considered defamatory.
The magazine report claimed that the couple watched the video with lawyers after a member of their entourage threatened to release the footage.
Ms Spears' legal team argued that was libellous because it "maliciously and recklessly portrays [Ms Spears] as acting 'goofy' while watching the video with the lawyers".
But Judge Cole said Ms Spears had not brought the libel action for being "falsely accused of acting goofy".
"The issue is whether it is defamatory to state that a husband and wife taped themselves engaging in consensual sex," she said.
Ms Spears, who has sold more than 60 million albums, married Federline in 2004.