Daniela Cicarelli attend the GQ Awards 2004 on December 13, 2004 at Hotel Palace, in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images) (2004 Getty Images)
Google was ordered to pay a Brazilian model $64,000 for not keeping off YouTube a video in which she appears to be having sex with her then-boyfriend at a beach in Spain.
Daniella Cicarelli, 36, sued the tech company for nearly $24 million in damages after YouTube, which is now owned by Google, was unable to prevent users from posting the clip which had aired on Spanish television.
However, a Brazilian judge decided Tuesday to award Cicarelli (who once dated Brazilian ex-soccer star, Ronaldo) and businessman Tato Malzoni, just $64,000 each, according to the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.
According to the report, the video was recorded by a paparazzo and originally uploaded to YouTube on Sept. 18, 2006. It was broadcast on the TV show “Dolce Vita” on Spain’s Telecinco network.
The prolonged legal battle began, and in early 2007, YouTube was blocked in Brazil for two days because of the case. The video streaming site was able to get the injunction lifted by arguing that there can be no expectation of privacy while having sex on a public beach.
Cicarelli appealed, and the Supreme Court of São Paulo ruled in 2008 that there is no public interest with the video, and there had been an invasion of privacy. It set a daily fine for every day the video was available on the site.
YouTube appealed the court’s decision, and Tuesday’s decision officially ends the lawsuit.
No lawyers for Cicarelli, Malzoni or Google have commented on the court decision.
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