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Elisabeth Hasselbeck plagiarism charges expose embarrassingly similar ideas
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Saucy co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the more conservative voice of “The View,” has been named in a lawsuit filed yesterday in Boston federal court.
By letter dated June 9, 2009, lawyers for Cape Cod author Susan Hassett claim Hasselbeck committed plagiarism and copyright infringement by stealing portions of their client’s self-published book, “Living With Celiac Disease.” The letter goes on to cite framework, chapters titles, and whole phrases of Hassett’s book, noting glaring similarities with those of Hasselbeck bestseller “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide” (Forward by Dr. Peter Green).
Some of the compared content is practically indistinguishable.
Gossip site TMZ broke the story and included an update from Hasselbeck representatives. As expected, Hasselbeck called the allegations baseless and denied any wrongdoing.
However, Hassett claims she sent a copy of her book along with a personal note, cooking video, business card, and newspaper article dated April 1, 2008 directly to Hasselbeck, a known Celiac Disease sufferer, with no thought of personal gain. Rather than reply to the unsolicited gesture with a public acknowledgment, thank you card, or package return, Hasselbeck remained mum.
Proving once again that the road to hell is still paved with good intentions. At the very least, Hasselbeck could have acknowledged the poor woman with a gluten-free gift basket.
In this day and age, even published material is not immune from repackaging and peddling under a different name. Hasselbeck may ultimately prove her lack of culpability, but with both books using “What is Celiac Disease?” as chapter one titles – among other blatant similarities – her battle looks like an uphill climb.
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