Are we about to get a highly principled magazine publisher and owner in the German group, Bauer, which is about to take control of ACP Magazines, Australia’s largest magazine publishing group? The topless Kate Middleton photos-story and the reaction by Bauer to it in Britain and Europe suggests that there will be changing of the ACP’s at-times cowgirl approach to publishing stories and photos that breach someone’s privacy, or are invented.

Bayer owns the Closer name and publishes the UK version of the magazine, which is one of the biggest selling in Britain. It is an important asset. Closer in France is published under licence by Mondadori, part of the media empire run by Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi. Mondadori is actually run by Berlusconi’s 46-year-old daughter. Mondadori also publishes Chi, the Italian gossip mag that is due to reveal its 26-page special spread in an edition tonight, our time.

In a statement on the Closer UK and Bauer websites at the weekend, the German group has taken a very strong stand on the photo story and suggests that it could remove the licence rights from the French group. Bauer seems to have recognised the dangers to its big UK business (more than £230 million of revenues and nearly £60 million of profits in 2011) in the Middleton photos judging by the statements.

The statements explains the relationship between the UK Closer and that in France: “Closer magazine UK is published by Bauer Consumer Media. The French edition meanwhile is published under a licence by a totally different company, an Italian business called Mondadori, which is owned by Fininvest (a key company in the Berlusconi empire).

And on the website of Closer UK, in a statement from Paul Keenan, the CEO of Bauer Media (the UK business), the company says it will look to renegotiate the licence with the Berlusconi empire. The statement says:

“As the owners of the Closer brand and publishers of Closer magazine we have complained in the strongest terms to the licensee of Closer France, over the publication by them of photographs of their royal highnesses, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.

“We deplore the publication of these intrusive and offensive pictures and have asked that Closer France takes these pictures down immediately from its website and desist from publishing any further pictures.

“Bauer Media and Closer UK regards publication of these photographs as a gross intrusion of their royal highnesses’ privacy.

“We were not aware in advance of the purchase of these photographs or of any intention to publish. We have absolutely no control over the editorial decisions of Closer France.

“In the light of their publication, we are now urgently discussing this matter with our licensee and reviewing the terms of our licence agreement with Closer France.

“Like our readers we are appalled and regret the pain the publication of these photographs has caused.”

If Bauer removes the licence, it could be the second publisher to take disciplinary action against a publication that printed the topless pics. The Dublin-based Irish Star printed them at the weekend, to the apparent surprise of its joint owners, Independent News and Media and Northern and Shell. The latter is the key company in the growing media empire of Richard Desmond, who owns the Daily Star, Channel Five and other outlets in the UK. Desmond, like other UK publishers, is facing the great unknown of a crackdown on the media and tighter regulation following  the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

In various media reports, Desmond says he is reviewing the joint venture and there’s a growing belief that the Irish Star will be forced to close if the licence to use the name Star is removed. About 100 jobs would go if the paper is closed. You’d have to say the decision to publish the topless pics would be one of the major suicide notes of all time in the media. Independent also seems to be appalled and says it will try to fit any laid-off journalists and others into other publications in Ireland.

And by the way, if you google his name and various combinations of phrases such as “legal action over photos”, you’d discover that Silvio Berlusconi has used the Italian courts to block the publication of photos of some of his most intimate moments. He sued a Spanish newspaper over the publication of photos from one of his Sardinian pool parties and won.