SAN FRANCISCO – The author of a fitness book has filed a suit alleging her work was used in a book written by actress Kate Hudson.
Tina Vindum filed a complaint on April 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Harpercollins Publishers LLC, Kate Hudson, Billie Fitzpatrick and Does 1-10 citing copyright infringement.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that she wrote "Tina Vindum's Outdoor Fitness" in 2009 and that the book "Pretty Happy: Healthy Ways to Love Your Body" contains several verbatim sentences from her book. The suit states "Pretty Happy" was written by Hudson and Fitzpatrick, who is Vindum's former editor.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks injunction and restraining the defendants, statutory damages for each act of infringement in an amount provided by law ($150,000 per work), interest, all legal fees and any other relief as the court deems just. She is represented by Anne H. Hocking, Andrew S. Mackay and Padmini Cheruvu of Donahue Fitzgerald LLP in Oakland.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-02244-MMC