Some Jerks (Probably The NFL) Got A Hilarious Romance Novel Parody Removed From Amazon Over IP
from the gronk-gronk-gronk dept
I'm a big fan of fan fiction for several reasons. I think it's awesome how a community can be so devoted to a particular something as to want to author their own creations around that something. I think it's cool when the original creators manage to use fan fiction as a mode to interact with their fans. Perhaps most of all, I love how fan fiction allows creative people to get silly on the subject of their work with parody and humor. For these reasons and more, I was particularly pleased when Amazon announced that they wanted to allow sales of this kind of work.I'm less pleased to find that there are many ways in which those works can be taken down. See, Lacey Noonan is an author who goes out of her way to create parody novellas making fun of the romance genre. She recently released her short book about a housewife wanting to have sex with an NFL player.
Yes, the story quite prominently features Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots tight end, and general all-around party boy. You know, this friggin' guy.
Yo soy fiesta. Yo soy fiesta. I am party. That's as Gronkowski as it gets. And it makes him a great subject for a laughable romance novella parody. Unfortunately, A Gronking To Remember has been removed from the Amazon store. Why? You see that small patch on Gronk's sleeve on the cover of the book that reads "MHK"? It's a tribute patch for the wife of the Patriot's owner and it appears to be the reason the book was taken down.
We're told the online retailer pulled the book because someone — perhaps the Patriots or the National Football League — objected to the book jacket, specifically the photo of Gronkowski that features the "MHK" patch on his uniform. (The team began wearing the patch in 2011 after the death Myra Kraft, wife of Patriots owner Robert Kraft.) In an e-mail, author Lacey Noonan told us she hadn't anticipated any problem with the Gronk picture.If you look at the cover with an eye towards intellectual property concerns, you can clearly see how the team or the NFL might have concerns over the team's uniform appearing on the jacket, though it also seems clear that measures were taken to minimize how much the team logo and the uniform appears at all. But for this to be over the patch? And for that patch to result in the takedown of a hilarious piece of parody? It seems that someone needs to explain what rights exist for whom on a patch that consists of three letters, because we can't lose this literary treasure to that.
"I didn't understand at the outset that Robert Kraft wouldn't want Myra Kraft and her philanthropical works associated with this," Noonan said in the e-mail. "Total newbie ignorance on my part. I believe — and hope — that's the only problem anyone has with the book since it is such obvious satire and parody."
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: copyright, ebooks, fan fiction, lacey noonan, rob gronkowski, takedown, trademark
Companies: nfl
Reader Comments
The First Word
“Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Robert Kraft: My players want to wear patches as a memorial to Myra.
Lawyer: Doable. Just sign this form granting IP ownership of "remembering your dead wife" to the NFL.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Just (INFRINGING USE OF TRADEMARK REMOVED) over the MHK initials and patch.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]