UPDATED: Here is a guy who truly needs to take a leave of absence and go on a humanitarian mission to Sudan - so as to regain his perspective, and humanity. His name is Fraser Ross. The Los Angeles Times reports today that the Hollywood clothing boutique Kitson, owned by Ross, is suing Us magazine, alleging lack of publicity in the publication has cost the store $10,000 per week. "It" girls such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Denise Richards (who?) sport Kitson togs and accessories, and the store used to get loads of ink in Us. But due to a legal spat, Kitson finds itself decidely "C"-listed in the mag's pages, its merchandise cropped out of pictures and its coverage nil.

The lawsuit alleges the magazine now refuses to name or show the Kitson brand in credits, captions or celebrity photographs. As an example, the suit cited the magazine's cropping of a picture in such a way that its blue shopping bags, "generally known to readers, did not display the name Kitson on it." Not long ago, Us Weekly gushed that Kitson was "L.A.'s hippest hot spot." But now, according to the lawsuit, the magazine refuses to mention the store. Evangeline Lilly, one of the stars of the ABC show "Lost," was pictured in the magazine attending a private Kitson launch party. But the suit says Kitson was never mentioned. The suit says the same was true for California First Lady Maria Shriver and her daughter Katherine, who were pictured leaving Kitson even though the store was left out of the credit. In the same August issue, the suit says, Nicole Kidman's photograph stated she was leaving rival retailer Fred Segal.

The sheer, blatant, venal, toxic....malevolence of it all. One can hardly summon the requisite outrage, the injustice is so staggering. To the depositions, barristers!

Meanwhile, according to the Times' article today, the FBI is investigating allegations that a former Us staffer was hired by Kitson's Ross to hack into the magazine's computer system and learn more about planned celebrity coverage.

When Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston for Angela Jolie, Kitson brought out "Team Aniston" and "Team Jolie" shirts. So obviously, these guys are an earned media machine, or would be, if only Us would leave score-settling out of its editorial decisions.

The imbroglio is certainly a twist on the old paradigm of libel suits for deleterious press coverage. Imagine getting sued for NOT writing about something, or for how you captioned or cropped a photo. Inquiring minds want to know: After Ross returns from Darfur, will Kitson get smart and start a blog? This much I can tell you Fraser: your Web site is like....sooooo....1997. Dja'know? That includes the lame e-mail newsletter sign-up. E-mailed newsletters anymore are about as "now" as videocassettes.

TECHNORATI TAGS: HOLLYWOOD, KITSON, US, FRASER ROSS, PARIS HILTON, LINDSAY LOHAN, JENNIFER ANNISTON, BRAD PITT, ANGELA JOLIE, SUDAN. DARFUR