A Manhattan mom slapped a children’s play space with venues throughout the city with a lawsuit for making her 3-year-old son its poster child in ads without her permission.
Debra Lindenbaum claims NY Kids Club, a children’s center with locations from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn Heights — and even China — snapped a photo of her son Liam while he was at a gymnastics class in the summer of 2011.
Lindenbaum, 32, says she never gave the W. 67th Street club permission to use her son’s image.
“By their knowing and intentional continued use of Liam’s picture, defendants are unlawfully exploiting the likeness of an unwitting child for the sole purpose of commercial gain,” the piqued mom gripes in the Manhattan Supreme Court Suit.
She was told by an employee in December 2012 that the photo would not be used in the future.
But starting just a month later she caught the Kids Club distributing Liam’s likeness in an email blast to parents and again on the cover of a CD for a ‘Baby Loves Disco’ event in August.
The Kids Club has also released the picture to the Big Apple’s official marketing arm, NYC & Company, which is viewed by tens of millions of residents and tourists.
Lindenbaum wants the club to stop using the photo plus unspecified monetary damages.
A rep for NYC & Company declined to comment citing pending litigation.
A spokeswoman for NY Kids Club did not immediately return messages seeking comment.