Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Goose pic prompts farmer's $7.5M lawsuit

Andrew Marsinko, a Botetourt County poultry farmer, wasn't happy when he learned that a photo taken of him at the 1996 Virginia State Fair showed up on a greeting card.

The card shows him wearing a cowboy hat and holding a goose on his knee. The speech balloon on the cover says, "Since it's your birthday, you decide -- Would you rather get spanked ..." (Open the card) "Or goosed? Happy birthday!"

Marsinko is a figure of note in poultry circles and went to fairs and auctions where people would rib him about the photo.

His response: a $7.5 million lawsuit against the photographers, the greeting card company, just about everyone involved. He claims defamation, unauthorized use of image and infliction of emotional distress, among other things. The Roanoke Times reports that Marsinko says he never signed a release for the photo, the key to whether he can recover anything.

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