Did a French court just totally misunderstand the nature of Digital Media?

Canon EF 800mm f-5.6 L USM lens

We don't normally cover royal stories here in RedShark, but we noticed this BBC news report where a French court have decided that the paparazzi photos of the Duchess of Cambridge were a breach their of privacy.

The thing is, we can't help wondering exactly what would constitute the originals in this case. Would they have been the memory cards from the camera? Or would they have been the Photoshopped, sharpened, contrast-enhanced files that were used for publication? These post-produced files would have undoubtedly revealed more detail.

And what, we wonder, did the Judge, if he or she did order this, imagine would happen to all the perfect copies that were made of the "originals"? Would they all just disappear once the "originals" had been handed back?

BTW - we're not implying that this lovely Canon EF 800mm f-5.6 L USM lens was used this misdemeanour.