Seinfeld cookbook dispute rises again

Thanks to a rise in Amazon rankings, a revamped lawsuit and an "Oprah" rerun, the debate over "vegetable plagiarism" has entered Round 2.

"Deceptively Delicious," the cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld whose recipes for concealing pureed vegetables in comfort food for children bore such similarities to another cookbook's that it inspired a lawsuit from that book's author, shot to the top of the Amazon best-seller list last week, nine months after it was published.

The sharp rise in sales caught the eyes of both books' publishers, who traced it to the rerun of an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that featured Seinfeld. The appearance also subsequently lifted sales of "The Sneaky Chef," by Missy Chase Lapine, the author who is suing Seinfeld.

The books, similar in theme, content and appearance, remain inextricably tied to each other. On Amazon, shoppers viewing "Deceptively Delicious" are prodded to order "The Sneaky Chef," and vice versa.

And both books' newfound popularity came as Lapine vowed last week to press ahead with her lawsuit against Seinfeld and Seinfeld's husband, Jerry Seinfeld, originally filed in January. The suit charged that the Seinfelds were guilty of copyright infringement and defamation. (It was Jerry Seinfeld who, during an appearance on "Late Show With David Letterman," before calling Lapine a "wacko," mockingly suggested that his wife was accused of "vegetable plagiarism.")

Armed with a new set of lawyers, Lapine recently extended her lawsuit against the Seinfelds to include HarperCollins, the publisher of Seinfeld's cookbook. Lapine's original lawyers left the case because they also represent News Corp., which owns HarperCollins, Lapine said.

Lapine is seeking unspecified damages.

The Seinfelds pointed out that sneaking vegetables into children's foods has been done in cookbooks since the early 1970s. (A lawyer for the Seinfelds did not return calls for comment.)

Lapine's book had been rejected by HarperCollins and was eventually published in April 2007 by Running Press, an imprint of the Perseus Books Group. Six months later Seinfeld's book was published.

Seinfeld's celebrity status helped her win a coveted appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," the ultimate book promotion.