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Seinfelds Face Lawsuit Over Defamation, Plagiarism
By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 8, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jan 8, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Missy Chase Lapine, the children’s cookbook author who claims Jessica Seinfeld – the comedian’s wife (pictured) – “brazenly plagiarized” her work is now taking it up a notch by slapping both Jessica and Jerry with lawsuits. She’s accusing Jerry of defamation because when the scandal made headlines back in October, Jerry went on TV and talked some trash that was as arrogant as it was stupid.
On Letterman, the funny boy characterized Lapine as a “wacko” stalker and tried to bond with his good-time buddy Dave, saying, “I have wackos, you have wackos. And, you know, if you read history, many of the three-name people do become assassins. Mark David Chapman. And you know, James Earl Ray. So that's my concern.” On E! he dismissed Lapine as a "nut job like the guy I went to college with who claimed I stole the whole TV series from him."
Stop helping, Jerry. The main thrust of the suit accuses Jessica of trademark infringement for “writing” a how-to guide for sneaking pureed vegetables into things like chocolate chip cookies. Her book, titled Deceptively Delicious, was published by HarperCollins and sold millions of copies after she plugged it on Oprah. Lapine’s book, The Sneaky Chef, was twice rejected by HarperCollins – the second time just two weeks before they met with Seinfeld. And besides the identical concepts, many of Seinfeld’s recipes are suspiciously similar to the ones in Lapine’s book.
Jessica might want to stop addressing the scandal in public, too. In defending herself in a blog post titled “The Deception Debate”, she calls the accusation “silly” because it’s about “who made up pureed vegetables.” (We thought it was about copyright infringement.) To prove how unoriginal her book is, she lists a few other books published before hers that are based on tricking kids to eat healthy, books like Lapine’s The Sneaky Chef.
Quick survey: How long before this is settled out of court for an undisclosed sum?
Tagged
david
Deceptively Delicious
jerry seinfeld
jessica seinfeld
lawsuit
letterman
missy chase lapine
oprah
seinfeld
The Sneaky Chef
tv
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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