Bruni sues French newspaper website for airing her song

The website 'Midi Libre' posted a 50-second audio clip of Bruni's Italian adaptation of Douce France.

French First Lady Carla Bruni is reportedly suing a French newspaper for posting on its website an audio clip of her song without permission. Last month,the newspaper ‘Midi Libre’ posted a 50-second audio clip of Bruni’s Italian adaptation of Douce France — a song by popular mid-20th century French singer Charles Trenet,the Telegraph reported.

The popular wartime song,which is due to feature in her forthcoming album,is viewed as her vocal way of supporting her husband,President Nicolas Sarkozy,who is expected to seek a second term of office in next year’s general election.

Bruni’s agent Bertrand de Labbey slammed the paper’s use of an excerpt of the song.

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“This extract was just a sketch,a work-in-progress and not a finished product,” de Labbey said last month. “This was robbed and an internal investigation was opened to find out how Midi Libre received the song.”

The newspaper,meanwhile,denied any wrongdoing,saying it had published the song to commemorate the anniversary of Trenet’s death.

“We were light years away from thinking that Carla Bruni would be affected by (our decision to air the song)”,which it described as part of French national heritage and polled as one of the country’s all-time favourites.

Bruni is currently recording her fourth album,whose release date is unknown.