“A Gronking To Remember” is creating a controversy the author soon would like to forget.
Lacey Noonan drew all sorts of headlines in January when her erotic novel about a love affair with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski surfaced. The novel, of course, obviously was hilarious and produced some fantastic moments.
An unintended consequence occurred, however, when Amazon pulled the book from its store, reportedly because someone objected to the photo of Gronkowski on the cover. Now, an Ohio couple is filing a lawsuit over that same cover photo — but for a different reason.
“The cover of the book contains a photograph of the Plaintiffs which was taken as part of their engagement journey leading toward their wedding,” the lawsuit reads. “The photograph was appropriated by the Defendants for commercial gain without the permission of the Plaintiffs nor with the permission of any lawful copyright holder.”
Here’s the photo of the couple on the cover.
[tweet https://twitter.com/heyfeifer/status/593128286932303873 align=’center’]
The couple also names Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble in the lawsuit for selling the book in digital formats online without permission.
The case is heading to federal court, according to The Hollywood Reporter, where the merchandisers likely will recall the Communication Decency Act to claim they’re not liable for what authors publish in the products they sell.
As for the book itself, the couple didn’t exactly find it amusing, calling Noonan’s work “less than tasteful” and “offensive.”
