Possible Perils Of Book Cover Designs

Not My Anne - Possible Perils Of Book Cover Designs | Heenan Blaikie LLP - JDSupra: " . . .But let's imagine for a moment that Lucy Maud Montgomery was still alive or that the books were otherwise still protected by copyright (i.e., imagine LMM had passed away within the last fifty years) - can an author object to a publisher's choice of cover art? Could a cover be so bad, so inconsistent with the author's vision for the book, that it actually gives rise to a right of action on the part of the author? . . . . There are two conceivable routes to such a claim: breach of contract or infringement of moral rights. An author's publishing agreement may be negotiated to include some kind of approval right on the part of the author . . .  Where an author enjoys an approval right and their publisher publishes a book with a cover that the author did not approve, the author would be able to bring a claim for contractual breach. While damages might be difficult to prove, the author could seek an injunction prohibiting the publisher from printing or selling editions of the book with the impugned cover, which would have the effect of removing the cover from circulation and (hopefully) causing the publisher to re-issue the book with a new cover. . . . "


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