The family of Kate Middleton, including her sister Pippa Middleton and their parents, were investigated for and cleared of copyright infringement due to trinkets they have on their website Party Pieces.
Apparently the company sold party trinkets under "Celebrate the Games" that were too close to official Olympic merchandise. Kate Middleton's family was investigated, but they were quickly cleared of any wrongdoing regarding the Olympic trademark. Even so, they were asked to modify their website to remove the pieces that were too close the the official Olympic merchandise. Those include a javelin thrower and an Olympic torch. If they had been charged, the fine could have been as much as $30,000, which is not cheap.
Could the Middleton's connection to Duchess Catherine have an effect on the type of punishment (or lack of punishment) they received. Of course, these are also the same people whose lives will never be the same because of their association with the British Royal family. In fact, Pippa Middleton cannot go anywhere without the paparazzi following her and snapping incessant pictures.
While they obviously should not infringe on copyrights, they should be able to benefit in some way from their connection with the Duchess of Cambridge and the rest of the royal family considering all the negative consequences they've endured because of that same association.



