Print
Jan 8, 2008 9:40 am US/Pacific
Cookbook Author Sues The Seinfelds
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
"Jerry Seinfeld is entitled to his opinions," Seinfelds' lawyer, Richard Menakersaid. "Even though Jerry Seinfeld is a public figure, he doesn't lose his right to free speech because of that."
Scott Gries/Getty Images for Comedy Central
An author who claims Jerry Seinfeld's wife plagiarized her cookbook
sued the famous couple on Monday, finding no humor when the comedian
compared the three-name author to the three-name killers of John Lennon
and Martin Luther King Jr.
The lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages for copyright and
trademark infringement, was brought in U.S. District Court in Manhattan
by Missy Chase Lapine, the author of "The Sneaky Chef: Simple
Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals."
"Jerry Seinfeld is an enormously wealthy and well-known comedian,
and Jessica Seinfeld is his wife, but that does not give them license
to slander and plagiarize," the lawsuit said.
The Seinfelds' lawyer, Richard Menaker, disputed Lapine's claims of
defamation and plagiarism and suggested Lapine was seeking publicity to
boost her book's sales.
"Both are without merit," Menaker said. "There's no truth in fact
or law to this claim of plagiarism. The idea for Jessica Seinfeld's
book came from her own experiences with her family out of her own
kitchen."
And he said there was "no basis" for any kind of legal claim of defamation.
"Jerry Seinfeld is entitled to his opinions," Menaker said. "Even
though Jerry Seinfeld is a public figure, he doesn't lose his right to
free speech because of that."
In October, HarperCollins published Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively
Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
