Author Wins Suit Against Tony Robbins

Author Wade Cook was awarded $655,900 by a federal jury in Tacoma, Wash., in his copyright infringement suit against motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Cook accused Robbins and his company, San Diego-based Robbins Research International Inc., of plagiarizing two sentences and two phrases from his best-selling book “Wall Street Money Machine.” The material appeared in a workbook distributed at Robbins’ Financial Power seminars. Cook’s attorney had asked the jury for $1.8 million. Sam Georges, chief operating officer of Robbins Research, said the defendants will ask U.S. District Judge Jack E. Tanner to set aside the jury’s award and will appeal if that request is denied. Pamela Hendrickson, who wrote the Financial Power manual for Robbins, testified that she compiled it from a variety of sources, including parts of Cook’s book, but said, “The concepts go back to the beginning of time.”