It’s a training war.
Celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson, who has toned the bodies of stars like Gwyneth Paltrow, has filed a lawsuit against her former employee, Megan Roup, who runs the popular Sculpt Society.
In the complaint filed Monday in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Anderson accuses Roup, who worked for her from 2011 to 2017, of copyright infringement.
The lawsuit claims that Roup, whose admirers include Sofia Richie, Martha Hunt and model Shanina Shaik, had “access to all the material necessary to replicate the TA Method and related businesses, and wasted no time in doing so.”
Roup started his successful fitness business a month after leaving Anderson, according to the filing.
The lawsuit also claims that Roup has “used the years of research, money, and sweat that Anderson and Plaintiffs put into developing the TA Method and the business surrounding it to the detriment” of Anderson.
Anderson claims that a “significant amount” of Roup’s videos, available on the Sculpt Society site, “were created using sensitive information that Roup obtained, accessed, or was exposed to while working,” per Anderson. They also claimed that he used “confidential information” about Anderson’s business to “find and facilitate the continued operation and growth of [Roups] own business.”
The lawsuit claims that Roup signed a “Training Agreement” when he started at the company that prohibits him from using any “Confidential Information.”
The lawsuit also disputes that Roup allegedly does not expressly state that he worked for Anderson.
“The false and/or misleading public statements and advertising by the defendants create the false impression that Roup, on his own, created the choreographic movements, sequence and routines that make up the [Tracey Anderson Method] and conducted the research and development that resulted,” the complaint says.
They are seeking damages and a jury trial.
An attorney for Anderson had no comment. Representatives for Roup did not respond to request for comment.
The Fashion Law first reported in the presentation.
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