British photographer wins £82,000 damages after US porn firm uses picture of her AGED 14 on cover of explicit DVD

A photographer who sued a US porn film company for using a picture of her aged 14 on the cover of one of its DVDs has won £82,000 damages.

Lara Jade Coton was ‘horrified’ that her self-portrait, which was on the internet, had been used as the DVD cover and face art for the sexually explicit film Body Magic without her permission.

Miss Coton went on to sue the firm, TVX Films of Texas, after she complained and received an email blaming her for disappointing sales of the DVD, her lawyer Richard Harrison said.

A self portrait of Lara Jade Coton taken when she was 14-years-old appeared as the cover of the pornographic film Body Magic

Professional photographer Miss Coton has been awarded £82,000 in damages




She filed a lawsuit in federal court in Tampa, Florida, which accused TVX Films and its president Bob Burge of copyright infringement, civil conspiracy, misappropriation of her image, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The judge who awarded Miss Coton’s damages blasted the company’s actions as ‘morally wrong’ and said the use of her image wrongly implied she worked in the porn industry.

Now 21, Miss Coton, of Tamworth, Staffordshire told the Mirror: ‘I didn’t want to be known as the girl from the porn film. I’m delighted it’s finally out the way.

‘It’s not about the money – I had to defend my rights in work as well as my character and professional reputation.’

During the three-year legal battle, Miss Cotton told of her disgust of how the image was used: ‘I was absolutely horrified to see my work and my own picture being used on that kind of movie. It’s just appalling.’

Mr Harrison, of law firm Allen Dell PA, said when Miss Coton contacted the film company, its president Bob Burge responded by ridiculing her and accusing her of trying to perpetrate some kind of scam.

Mr Harrison said: ‘Adding insult to injury the company had the audacity to blame Lara Jade for the disappointing sales of its porn movie.’

He said TVX Films president Bob Burge wrote in an email: ‘Actually, removing your image will help improve the sale of the DVD. So far it bombed.’

Mr Harrison said: ‘If it’s not a crime to put a 14-year-old child on the cover of a porn video, it sure ought to be.’

Mr Harrison said the case showed how easily children could be victimised in the age of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.

‘This amazing technology allows us all to share our photos with friends and loved ones, but parents must realise that any picture a child puts on the internet is about three mouse clicks away from being stolen by anybody,’ he said.