{"id":134635,"date":"2025-08-10T15:19:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T15:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/134635\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T15:19:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T15:19:17","slug":"widow-slams-publisher-exploiting-jonah-lomu-for-unlicensed-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/134635\/","title":{"rendered":"Widow SLAMS publisher ‘exploiting’ Jonah Lomu for ‘unlicensed’ book"},"content":{"rendered":"

The widow of All Black legend Jonah Lomu has threatened to take legal action against an Australian publisher and the author of a book which she says\u00a0<\/strong>breaches the \u201cLomu trademark.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nadene Lomu\u00a0has claimed that the\u00a0book\u2019s publisher, Rockpool, and the book\u2019s author, Jamie Wall, have breached her husband\u2019s trademark that was set up in 1997.<\/p>\n

She is reportedly considering legal action against both, after her sons initially noticed their dad\u2019s image being used on the front cover of the aptly named \u2018Immortals\u2019 book, which is dedicated to the greatest players in the history of New Zealand rugby.<\/a><\/p>\n

The book isn\u2019t the only part of the saga that Lomu has issues with. She has also complained about the online sales of a T-shirt which bears her late husband\u2019s face, saying: \u201cThe\u00a0online apparel sales also breached the Lomu<\/a> trademark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lomu complains about ownership rights<\/p>\n

Lomu told the New Zealand Herald:\u00a0\u201cThe Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand exists for anyone and everyone to see where ownership rights sit. Yet it\u2019s blatantly obvious people choose to ignore it,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys and I are well aware that tributes will always be made about their dad \u2013 and deservingly so, but here are two examples of where moneymakers should have known better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m over people constantly exploiting Jonah, thinking they can use him to fill their pockets. No one owns the rights other than Brayley, Dhyreille and myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never steal another person\u2019s rights and family possessions the way people keep doing this to us and taking from our sons. It\u2019s a disgrace and enough is enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where the power of trademarks is truly underestimated, but let me clarify this \u2026 Both examples provided are unlawfully infringing upon our trademark ownership rights, and we are sick of it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Publisher CEO hits back<\/p>\n

The chief executive of Rockpool, Paul Dennington, has defended the use of Lomu\u2019s image in the publication, claiming that it was intended simply as a tribute to the great man and was not meant to cause upset.<\/p>\n

Nadine Lomu remained frustrated by the situation, claiming: \u201cRespecting someone isn\u2019t selling them out without the legal permission to do so,<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps instead of sweeping the dust on my floors, it\u2019s time to sweep up the outside trash, and hold these people liable for damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, they should do their homework before commercialising on Jonah without the legal permission to do so because ignorance is a weak excuse and not a valid defence against trademark infringement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drawing in specialist independent comment, the Herald brought in\u00a0Dr Victoria Argyle, Special Counsel at AJ Park, Intellectual Law Services, to assess the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noting that the book was\u00a0\u201can independent story showcasing 15 New Zealand All Black players generally regarded as some of our best players\u201d, she concluded that it was \u201can example of a fair and descriptive use to legitimately refer to a historic figure and former rugby legend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not appear to be doing anything that would mislead consumers, including as to its source. Thus, there is little that Nadene can do here to prevent the use of his name in this book.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Sir Steve Hansen weighs into Richie Mo\u2019unga debate as All Blacks legend reveals the \u2018myth\u2019 about fly-half\u2019s return<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The widow of All Black legend Jonah Lomu has threatened to take legal action against an Australian publisher…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":134636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,9655,81336,23133,50,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-134635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-home-page","11":"tag-jonah-lomu","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115005146002874992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}