Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld sued for plagarism and defamation
Jessica Seinfeld has been sued by cookbook Missy Chase Lapine for copyright infringement, and her husband comedian Jerry Seinfeld has also been sued for defamation. The suit, filed in New York claims that Jessica Seinfeld’s book, copied recipes, cover art, structure and the design from Lapine’s book.
The lawsuit alleges that Jessica Seinfeld blatantly plagiarized Ms. Lapine’s book, “The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals”.
“The Sneaky Chef” shows parents how to, among other things, camouflage purees of carefully selected fruits and vegetables as ingredients in less healthy foods that kids like, such as cheeseburgers, pizza and brownies.
Six months later, in October, 2007, Jessica Seinfeld released a substantially similar book, “Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Getting Your Kids Eating Good Food.”
Lapine’s lawyers say that her publishers brought the similarites to Seinfeld’s publishers, who had earlier reviewed and passed on Lapine’s book proposal.
The suit also alleges that Jerry Seinfeld defamed Lapine when he went on national talk shows and called her a “nut” and questioned her mental stability.
On an appearance on ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ in October 2007, Mr. Seinfeld called Ms. Lapine a “wacko” who had been “waiting in the woodwork” for a chance to attack the Seinfelds. He also asserted, incorrectly, that the two books came out “at the same time.” The lawsuit cites several examples of defamatory language by Mr. Seinfeld, apparently intended to intimidate Ms. Lapine.
I hope this chick wins the lawsuit. The Seinfelds annoy me so much and their defense that they are already rich so they don’t need to plagarize is such bullshit. Anyone can see the similarities between the books and I don’t think it is a coincidence that Seinfeld’s publishers had already read and passed on Lapine’s book before Seinfeld’s. Plus Jerry is a tool for calling her a nut on television.
