Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Elisabeth Hasselbeck Faces Lawsuit
A self-published author in Cape Cod has sued Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” for copyright infringement, accusing her of plagiarizing substantial portions of her book “Living With Celiac Disease.”
According to a lawsuit filed Monday in United States District Court in Massachusetts, Ms. Hasselbeck, whose diet book “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide,” was published by the Center Street imprint of the Hachette Book Group in May, copied “significant portions” of various lists from “Living with Celiac Disease” by Susan Hassett.
The plaintiff, Susan Hassett, says she sent a copy of her own book Living with Celiac Disease to Hasselbeck last year. And now this year Hasselbeck comes out with her own book (written with Peter Green) on the topic, and there seems to be a lot of similarities, including chapter titles and certain phrasing of words.
AP reports that Susan Hassett is claiming in a federal lawsuit filed in Boston that the celebrity infringed on Hassett’s copyrights by publishing a book on celiac disease, titled “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide,” last month.
In a statement, a Hachette spokeswoman and an attorney for Ms. Hasselbeck said: “Neither Center Street nor Elisabeth Hasselbeck has been served with the Complaint in this action. However, there is no basis for the allegations in the Complaint as published in the press. Ms. Hasselbeck worked diligently and tirelessly on her book and is disappointed in this attempt to discredit her work and her ability to bring this important message to the public.”
Hasselbeck only recently discovered she suffers from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder linked to gluten proteins found in wheat, barley and rye.
A little over a year later, Hassett says Hasselbeck published "The G Free Diet-A Gluten Free Survival Guide."
Their names are so similar, maybe Elisabeth thought she actually wrote that book?
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