Friends star sues over topless pictures

Friends star Jennifer Aniston hopes to persuade a judge this week to punish magazine publishers who ran a topless picture of her.

Her lawsuit, due be heard in a Los Angeles court tomorrow, will hinge on whether the star can show that magazine publishers improperly profited from the picture taken while she sunbathed topless in the back garden of her Hollywood hills home.

The 33-year-old blonde, now married to Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt, is suing Man’s World Publications and Crescent Publishing claiming that a paparazzi trespassed into a neighbour’s garden and climbed an eight foot wall to take the picture in February 1999.

The picture has since appeared in magazines published by the defendants, and other European publications.

Aniston claims the magazine publishers violated her privacy and profited from her likeness without consent. She is suing for an undisclosed sum.

Aniston’s lawyer, Jay Lavely, said Aniston will testify.

Calling Aniston a ‘‘public figure,’’ a lawyer for the magazines said the topless picture first ran overseas - so his clients cannot be blamed for re-running them in the United States.

‘‘Man’s World and Crescent had nothing to do with the taking of that photograph,’’ said Kent Raygor.