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New Zealand supermodel Kylie Bax has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles against a French men's magazine for using bare-breasted photos of her on its wrapper, CBS news reports.

Bax, 31, claims she did not give permission for the racy photographs, which were taken about six years ago, and used on the front and back of Max Magazine's April 2006 wrapper.

No pictures of her appeared in the magazine.

Bax contends in her lawsuit that the "cutting-edge, sexualised nature of the photographs" was inconsistent with the image she sought to develop.

Bax, originally from Thames, has appeared on the cover international magazines including Vogue and Marie Claire, and featured in several movies.

CBS said Bax claimed in her lawsuit she was never paid for the photos, and that the photographer, Antoine Verglas, gave the ahead for their use only after Max Magazine's parent company, Mondadori France, assured him it would receive Bax's permission before publishing them.

The lawsuit did not specify the amount she was seeking from Mondadori, but said Bax was entitled to more than US$500,000 ($756,000) damages.

- NZPA