A Rochdale mum was left flabbergasted when shop staff refused to ice a personalised Easter egg for her three-year-old son - because he shares a name with England striker Wayne Rooney.
Staff at a Bury branch of chocolatier Thorntons told a neighbour who wanted to buy a present for the little boy that icing 'Rooney' on an Easter egg for the toddler might constitute a breach of copyright.
They eventually agreed to ice the egg for young Rooney - provided that they wrote out his full name, to avoid any potential confusion with the Manchester United forward (who is presumably slightly past the age of personalised Easter eggs).
The kindly neighbour returned home with the egg, iced with 'Rooney Scholes', and told the lad's mum, Jo-anne Scholes, about her bizarre showdown with the shop staff.
The 43-year-old couldn't believe her ears when she heard her son's own name was being treated as copyright infringement.
"I can't imagine Wayne Rooney would care less," Scholes told the Manchester Evening News, calling the kerfuffle over the chocolate icing 'nonsense' and accusing shop staff of 'pathetic' and 'disgraceful' behaviour.
"It's really annoying because it turned what was meant to be a nice, personal gift into something which looked really impersonal and just a bit silly really," she said of the formal-sounding egg she was eventually given for her toddler.
The Man U mega fan, who even has a tattoo of Eric Cantona, explained that she chose the name Rooney as a tribute to the 28-year-old England international 'because of his style of play and the way he carries the team'.
She never expected that her homage would jepordise her son's Easter. "Rooney is his name - does that mean he's not allowed to have his name on anything because he shares it with a famous footballer?" the exasperated mum-of-four told the newspaper.
It just goes to show that life ain't easy for a boy named Roo. We can only imagine what would have happened if she'd named the lad Paul...
A spokesperson for Thorntons was not available for comment when approached by the Manchester Evening News.