Legal News

In Boncompagni Copyright Suit, Tatiana Gets TRO

By Dan Slater

Natasha and Tatiana Boncompagni.

The copyright battle between the Boncompagni sisters — Tatiana and Natasha — is moving right along. On Monday, Tatiana, a former WSJ freelancer who’s married to Max Hoover (of the vacuum family), filed this suit against her sister, claiming that Natasha is infringing Tatiana’s copyright in her forthcoming novel, “Hedge Fund Wives” (HarperCollins).

Among Tatiana’s chief complaints was her allegation that Natasha had been publishing portions of the book, which is slated for publication next year, on two Web sites — hedgefundwives.com and hedgefundwives.net.

Yesterday, Tatiana’s Kaye Scholer lawyers secured a TRO from U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin of New York’s Southern District. Among other things, Natasha is temporarily restrained from publishing online or distributing portions of “Hedge Fund Wives.” She also must preserve her allegedly purloined versions of the manuscript.

Via email, Natasha responded:

I have no interest in exposing this private matter to further media spectacle as my sister insisted today. By parading the ungrounded emergency motions (i.e. Restraining Order and Emergency Injunction) in Court today, she is wasting the court’s time when there are much more important matters on which it could be focusing. As such, I requested in the hearing today for Tatiana’s lawyers to withdraw this suit and let us resolve this matter within our family.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 29, 2008 (boomark / email).