Sarkozy's voodoo doll back in court

Just in case you missed it first time around, and for all those who thought it was a story done and dusted, here's an update to the seemingly never-ending saga of Sarkozy's voodoo doll.

An appeals court on Thursday said it would rule later this month on a renewed request from the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, that a voodoo doll made in his image, be withdrawn from shop shelves.

Yes, believe it or not, between cramming in a tête à tête with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev before rushing off to help save the world's financial system at the G20 summit this weekend, fixing European Unions institutions - or not (whatever happened to Lisbon and the Irish "no" vote?) in his six month role as head of the EU, and running the country, the French president has still found the time to pursue what to all appearances could be seen as one of his favorite hobbies - suing.

You might remember that Sarkozy has spent quite a chunk of time in court.

All right maybe he hasn't actually pitched up himself, he has a lawyer to do that, but in the course of what is now 18 months in office he has resorted to French justice to pursue civil suits more than any other president in the history of this country's Fifth Republic - six in total.

Indeed it had been 30 years since an incumbent French president had last brought a civil suit, and both his predecessors, Jacques Chirac and François Mitterrand steered clear of the courts while in office.

Be that as it may, the current case involves the voodoo doll that just won't seem to go away.

Not that Sarkozy is exactly making moves to drop it.

To be fair of course, he's leaving it all to his lawyer Thierry Herzog, and for those of you who may not quite be up to speed on the events so far (although on current evidence perhaps you could be forgiven that it might rear its head again at regular intervals over the coming months) here's a quick recap.

The doll in question comes as part of a kit, complete with 12 needles and an instruction manual that quite literally invites the user to "pinpoint" exactly which elements of Sarkozy's policies or character they dislike most.

You don't like his infamous retort to a man who refused to shake his hand during a visit to this year's agricultural show? Simply stick a pin in the appropriate place. What about his policy on ending advertising on public television? Ditto. Fed up with hearing the oft-repeated mantra "Work more to earn more"? You know what to do.

And so on, and so forth.

Certainly not in the greatest of taste, but apparently offensive enough to have upset Sarkozy and instruct his legal team to take action.

The doll - and a similar one representing Ségolène Royal, the defeated Socialist party candidate in last year's presidential election, first went on sale on October 9 (Sarkozy - 20,000, Royal, 15,000).

Within a week Herzog, had demanded that K&B, the company which has manufactured and distributed the manuals and dolls, withdraw the product from circulation or risk legal action for "misuse of the president's image";

It refused and the case went to court, with Herzog arguing that Sarkozy owned the sole rights to his image and the company had never been authorized to use it.

At the end of last month a court rejected that request and ruled that the "non-authorized representation of the image of Nicolas Sarkozy neither constituted an affront on the human dignity (of the president) nor a personal attack." In other words the doll could remain on sale.

The country waited with not exactly bated breath to see whether Sarkozy would appeal the decision - and true to form, he did.

On Thursday Herzog was back in court armed with.....well exactly the same arguments really.

"The book and the needles represent nothing more than a business transaction and advertising without the agreement of Nicolas Sarkozy," he told the court.

"The product exceeds the right to caricature and instead invites users, who dislike or distrust the president, to play an active role by encouraging them to stick pins in a doll with the aim of harming."

Or a rather legal way of once again saying that the company didn't have the rights to use the image of Sarkozy and that somehow users might think that by sticking pins in the doll they were actually practicing voodoo.

The court will rule on the appeal at the end of this month.

Just for the record, Royal has taken no action whatsoever.

The upshot of the whole saga on sales? Well apparently they've sold out. And at €12.95 a pop - well you do the maths, but that's a pretty tidy sum.

Fear not though, just in case you haven't been able to get hold of one and are keen to practice your voodoo skills, or are desperate to find that strange little stocking filler for the holiday season.

They're still available on a rather well-known Internet auction site.

That's where one person not a million miles away from this keyboard managed to get hold of his.

Pass the pins please.