Judge dismisses Britney Spears libel suit

On Monday, an L.A. judge dismissed a libel suit filed last year by pop icon Britney Spears against US Weekly after the magazine printed a story about an alleged sex tape made by the singer and her husband.

According to a public announcement detailing Los Angeles Supreme Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole's ruling on Monday, the suit filed by Britney Spears and Kevin Federline does not provide sufficient evidence of libelous intent on the part of the magazine article.

The article, which appeared in a 2005 US Weekly column, "Hot Stuff," reported that Britney and Kevin warned their lawyers that a person in their entourage had recorded them in an intimate encounter and were worried that an X-rated sex tape could surface in the media.

The article also reported that the two pop performers had a copy of the tape.

The suit accuses the article of libel for portraying Britney's actions during the viewing of the tape as "goofy."

Considering the issue of whether or not the magazine showed defamation in stating that the husband and wife had produced a sex tape, the judge concluded that the suit was not libelous because Britney has already placed her sexuality "profitably, before the public eye."

Noting a 2005 reality TV show starring Spears and Federline, in which the couple's lives were documented, including racy sexual footage, the article did not report anything that could be considered defamatory.

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