Star Store Sues Gossip Magazine

A Los Angeles boutique favoured by stars such as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan is suing Hollywood gossip magazine Us Weekly, claiming mention of the shop is being deliberately edited out of the title.

The Kitson clothes shop claims that the magazine is cropping photographs so that its logo cannot be seen on shopping bags and failing to mention the store in captions and credits, according to US reports.

There appeared to be little love lost between the owner of Kitson, Fraser Ross, and Us Weekly in the first place: the two already had an agreement not to bad-mouth each other in public.

But now Mr Ross is claiming that the magazine reneged on the deal and has filed a lawsuit against Us Weekly for allegedly violating written and oral agreements not to disrupt business or damage the reputation of the store.

The lawsuit claims that Lost star Evangeline Lilly was pictured in the magazine at a private Kitson party, but no mention was made of Kitson.

It claims that the same is true when Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife Maria Shriver was pictured leaving the store, and in another photo of Nicole Kidman leaving the shop, the caption credited a rival retailer.

Bad blood between the two parties goes back some way. A paparazzi photo agency part-owned by Ross is being investigated after claims that its hacked into Us Weekly's computer system in a bid to discover what stories it was working on.

The agency, Sunset Photo and News LLC, is run by former Us Weekly staff member Jill Ishkanian.