A company that hawks erotic photos, paintings and other works by former Penthouse magazine owner Bob Guccione slapped the late porn king’s cash-strapped estate with a lawsuit over ownership rights to the eye-popping items.
Guccione Collections LLC filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court Tuesday seeking a judge’s order that its future sales of the artwork — which it believes it owns the rights to — doesn’t infringe on the intellectual property rights of the Guccione estate.
The suit claims that the estate wrongfully went on a letter-writing campaign last month to block future sales of the works on Guccione Collection’s website and at various auctions.
“The artwork created by Guccione is extremely valuable and single pieces of the art will be offered for sale at many thousands of dollars,” according to the suit.
Wall Street financier Jeremy Frommer, who runs Guccione Collections, was sent a letter on Sept. 11 by the estate’s reps demanding that he stop selling and reproducing the works, including for an planned coffee table book containing photo layouts owned” by the estate.
Guccione Collection’s filed a similar suit last week in a Delaware bankruptcy court against Friendfinder Network Inc., the bankrupt owner of Penthouse.
A lawyer for Guccione Collection’s declined comment, and reps for the Guccione estate could not be reached for comment.
Guccione died in 2010.