Seinfelds Sued Over Cookbook Spat

Celebrities

Posted Jan 8, 2008, 01:50 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

The author of a children’s cookbook called The Sneaky Chef, with healthy recipes for kids using pureed vegetables, has filed a suit that contends a cookbook written by Jerry Seinfeld’s wife infringes her copyright.

The plaintiff, Missy Chase Lapine, had done extensive research to find ways to camouflage fruits and vegetables so children would eat them without objections, the suit says. She contends the Seinfeld cookbook, called Deceptively Delicious, employs “brazen plagiarism,” the New York Times reports.

The suit also contends Jerry Seinfeld defamed Lapine in an appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman, in which he joked about a “three-name woman.”

“If you read history, many of the three-name people do become assassins,” Seinfeld said. He also told Letterman that in celebrity life a lot of “wackos” will pop out of the woodwork, the Associated Press reports.

The complaint (PDF posted by the Wall Street Journal Law Blog) said the action “arises from conduct that gives new meaning to the terms ‘arrogance’ and ‘greed.’ ”

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