Oprah settles photos case

Oprah Winfrey: Feared the pictures would be sold to the press

Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has reached an out of court settlement with two photographers who alleged she used their pictures in a fitness book without permission.

The confidential settlement ends a case in a Chicago courtroom which began on Tuesday and was supposed to last for eight days.

The 11 photos were used in a book called Make The Connection: Ten Steps To A Better Body And A Better Life.

Winfrey claimed she paid photographers Paul Natkin and Stephen Green more than $250,000 (£166,000) for the rights to use their pictures in any way they chose.

The pair had been hired to take photographs of Winfrey and her chat show guests between 1986 and 1992.

But the pair said the money entitled her to use the photographs as publicity shots for the press, not as part of a book.

Winfrey, who feared the photographers would sell the pictures to newspapers, refused to comment after the case.

But Green said: "What it means is I have the right to my work. Now Paul and I can publish a book of our work."