Missy Chase Lapine, author of “The Sneaky Chef” has filed suit against Jerry Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica as reported by CNN.
If you’ve not kept up with the story, Lapine published her book about slipping pureed vegetables into various different dishes, so kids would eat healthier, and then Jessica Seinfeld came out with her cookbook - "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food."
Writers can’t copyright ideas. Otherwise, we’d never have any new books. When it comes to cookbooks, things get even more complex. Ingredient lists cannot be copyrighted. If they could, then there go all the slight variations on broccoli casserole. The long tradition of women and men writing down favorite recipes on slips of paper and handing those to friends to enjoy with their own families would be illegal.
On the other hand, the presentation of materials including those in cookbooks are personal creations. Those have value and do belong to the creator, although it’s often darn hard to pinpoint specifically what constitutes “unique creation.”
Lapine is charging Seinfeld with plagiarism. In comparing the two books, it does look a little – well suspicious or “sneaky.” There are a number of near duplicate recipes. Of course, both are presenting recipes that will be kid friendly, so that could be explained away – and may be. Even the covers are quite similar. Same basic theme – but again kind of a generic approach. My thoughts are that the case would be a tough one to present and win.
In addition to the charge of plagiarism, Lapine is also charging Seinfeld – the star rather than his wife with defamation. Seinfeld went on David Letterman and made comments that suggested that Lapine is a nut case. He even noted that she uses three names like famous assassins including Mark David Chapman and James Earl Ray. Chapman murdered John Lennon, and Ray murdered Martin Luther King, Jr.
