A German court has upheld Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schroeder's attempt to stop a news agency from repeating a suggestion he dyes his hair.
The Hamburg court issued an injunction against the DDP news agency to prevent it from repeating a political consultant's observation - now retracted - that Mr Schroeder (58) would be more credible if he didn't dye his hair.
Mr Schroeder, who was attending a meeting of European Union and Latin American heads of state and government in Madrid, was not immediately available for comment.
Mr Schroeder's lawyers went to court last month to demand a ban on the news agency repeating suggestions that the chancellor dyes his dark-brown hair.
The news agency said issues of press freedom were at stake and maintained it had done nothing wrong in publishing a quote by a third party. It said at the start of the court proceedings it would appeal to a higher court if it lost the case.
Mr Schroeder's barber made a sworn statement to the court that Mr Schroeder did not dye his hair. He said Mr Schroeder had some grey hairs that could not be seen from a distance.
The conservative opposition jumped on the affair to cast doubt on Mr Schroeder's credibility, saying that a chancellor who dyed his hair will also dress up statistics.