Hollywood Everafter

Like a show about nothing, could this be a lawsuit about nothing?

That’s what Jerry Seinfeld’s lawyers are arguing.

Missy Chase Lapine wrote a cookbook called “The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals.”

Seinfeld’s spouse, Jessica, wrote a book titled “Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food.”

Lapine is accusing Mrs. Seinfeld of plagiarism over the stealth veggie cookbook.

While appearing on the “Late Show with David Letterman,” Jerry described Lapine’s accusation as “vegetable plagiarism.” The comedian went on to compare her name to those of the assassins of John Lennon and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“If you read history,” Seinfeld said, “Many of the three-name people do become assassins. Mark David Chapman. And you know, James Earl Ray. So that’s my concern.”

Consequently, Lapine added a defamation cause of action to the copyright and trademark infringement suit that she had filed.

In the original complaint, Lapine described Seinfeld as a comedian but then revised his profession in an amendment, which said, “Jerry Seinfeld is an enormously wealthy and well-known actor.”

Now the court has to decide:

–if the idea to mush up veggies and sneak them into kids’ meals is protected by copyright;

–if the First Amendment protects a joke that compares the names of assassins to the name of a plaintiff bringing suit; and

– if Jerry Seinfeld is a comedian or an actor.

The court will likely decide that Jerry Seinfeld is no Robert De Niro, despite some brilliant “Bee Movie” moments.

James Hirsen is a media analyst, Trinity Law School professor, and teacher of mass media and entertainment law at Biola University.