They have probably skirted the copyright issues by altering the image (however slightly)... thus our comments that the artist had no talent ('coz Bob knows we have every inch of these images memorized).
In other words, what we consider lack of talent is probably intentional.
Sadly, copyright infringement on visuals is always harder to prove (as is the case here, where they've "altered" a photograph into an illustration). I remember when I was just getting started in "the journalism biz" many moons ago. The art director did a parody of the little "Operation" game guy to illustrate a story I wrote, and I asked her how she knew whether she changed it enough to avoid copyright issues. Here's what she said: 7%. I said, "Huh?" She said, "You have to change it by 7%." I said, "That doesn't make any sense... how do you know if you changed an image by 7% and where'd that 'random' percentage come from?" Her answer?
"A lawsuit."
I still don't believe her, but she did show me a school book she had with some examples of things that DID pass the copyright test (in court) and I gotta tell ya, some of them definitely looked like copyright infringement to me.
Of course, I've never heard that "7% line" ever again and once I became an editor, I just made sure we shied away from any copyright issues, since I didn't feel like going back to school to get a JD.
It's definitely easier to nail infringement when it's
words.
And don't get me started on libel and slander. My employer was sued over slander for an article I wrote about a despicable company once
... thankfully the judge threw it out as a SLAPP (nuisance) suit.
I was pretty sure I was okay, though, I did pay attention in
those classes... not wantin' to end up in jail and all.
However, I'm of two minds on this... I hope it helps Trevor sell more books, but I feel bad for Alex and also wonder whether there's a potential for fan backlash from Italian Moonlight fans who don't know the book is different than the show ('coz this publisher is clearly banking on the show selling the book).
We've learned elsewhere on the board that authors have very little control of the cover art for their books. It was most likely chosen by the Italian publisher and I would think that the publisher would be on top of any potential legal issues. 
(Hi, all! 
) 
