Tony Robbins Lawsuit Against Stephen Pierce
April 25, 2008
The biggest news story in the internet marketing world this week is not a million dollar product launch, a new tool or system that will revolutionize your business. It was the lawsuit heard ’round the world. TMZ (yes TMZ the Hollywood gossip site) broke the news of a lawsuit filed by personal development giant Tony Robbins against internet marketer Stephen Pierce.
Stephen Pierce was recently invited to teach internet marketing at Robbins’ Wealth Mastery event in Australia.
As an attendee of many of Tony’s events, (you call him Tony when you immerse yourself in his teachings), before entering the venue, I was required to sign a waiver and promise that I will not record the event.
Robbins lawsuit claims Pierce illegally taped and later sold video DVDs of his internet marketing presentation from Tony’s event. Robbins attorneys also allege that Pierce claimed in advertisements that he was Tony Robbins’ Wealth Coach, and implied that Robbins endorsed Pierce. To complicate matters, the lawsuit states that Pierce advised his students to skip Robbins $ 8,000 event and buy Pierce’s bootleg video instead. Ouch.
You can view the actual details of the lawsuit that was filed here http://www.aolcdn.com/tmz_documents/0424_tony_robbins_wm.pdf
On Pierce’s blog, he quickly posted his interpretation of the series of events leading up to this and was surprised when the lawsuit was filed. Pierce stated that he had been in communication with Robbins people, had been given permission to record the video, and had complied long ago with their requests. Pierce even went as far as to say he had copies of all of the email communications during this time period, calling it a misunderstanding, which should at least clarify some of what went on here.
Asking me to pick sides would be like asking me which of my two brothers I love more. I have tremendous respect for both Pierce and Robbins and I am watching with great interest.
I hope these two power house DotComPreneurs sort this out and reach an amicable settlement, and make nice again outside of the court system. Tony Robbins has been on both sides of lawsuits, as plaintiff and defendant -a losing defendant in 1998 against Wade Cook and winner in his lawsuit against a Canadian tabloid that blamed him for breaking up a marriage.
While there are many lessons we can extract from this ordeal, one of the obvious lessons in this for you and I and everyone surrounding the internet marketing world is… it is imperative that you get all permissions detailed in writing when you interview subjects, use photographs, sell products others participate in, record video or audio, claim affiliations, utilize testimonials, use or sell interviews with others.
The more successful you become, and the more people on your team, the more opportunity there will be for miscommunication and misunderstanding.
Many a friendship and reputation have been destroyed through misunderstandings that could have been avoided by clarifying the details in advance in writing with thorough legal contracts.
In other words, cover your a**
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One Response to “Tony Robbins Lawsuit Against Stephen Pierce”
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Mmmm. I have just recently become aware of Stephen Pierce and his work. Clearly he is an Internet marketing whiz. I LOVE his OptiMINDzation series and the idea behind it. It’s too bad that he is embroiled in this lawsuit with Tony Robbins. I can only trust that the two of them will work it out.