Jerry Seinfeld’s wife Jessica Seinfeld published her first book a year or so ago and was promptly accused of copyright infringement and plagiarism by another writer, Missy Chase Lapine. Case went to federal court. Court decided Jessica did nothing wrong.
Jessica Seinfeld wrote a hip, timely cookbook showing moms how to incorporate healthy food into daily meals that kids could love. Evidently, so did Lapine. Copyrights and plagiarism accusations are never cut and dried or simple.
Ms. Seinfeld says she never read or saw Lapine’s book. The court has this to say, according to MediaBistro report:
“The similarities identified by plaintiffs are the result of the similar medium of expression used (cookbooks) or of the similar subject matter that both cookbooks address (hiding healthy foods in kid-friendly books).” (Via Publishers Weekly)
The MediaBistro comments came in that site’s free newsletter, Galleycat, a good resource for book writers who want to keep up with industry patter.
Seinfeld’s book is Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Getting Your Kids Eating Good Food. She still has a defamation lawsuit pending against the other writer, but the federal court says it should be handled on a state level.
Here are links to both books at Amazon, if you’re interested: The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals
and
Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food
More about copyrights:
Three part series on copyrights
Elisabeth Hasselbeck sued for plagiarism
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