A Rochdale woman was told by a chocolate shop that she could not have an Easter egg personalised for her son ‘Wayne Rooney’ because of ‘copyright issues’.

Jo-anne Scholes named her son Wayne Rooney after the famous Manchester United and England footballer, but this is the first time that she has run into issues surrounding intellectual property.

She told the Manchester Evening News that Thorntons in Bury town centre refused to personalise her three-year-old son’s Easter egg because for fear of breaching ‘copyright’ and attracting a lawsuit from the wealthy footballer.

Scholes described the whole affair as “pathetic…nonsense”, and as personal names have no protection under UK copyright or trademark law, many would agree.

In the end, the company offered to personalise the egg with “Rooney Scholes”, which although part of the boy’s name, is not what the family were looking to purchase.