Another Post on Plagerism

October 21, 2007.

Jessica Seinfeld's new book Deceptively Delicious is the talk of the town, or the talk of playgroups, or well even my sister with no children is talking it up.  She is on every TV show, she has sold tons of copies and well she is the media darling for the minute.  She must have a PR genius behind her....oh and let's not forget her husbands, you may have heard of him.......I think his name is Jerry.

Well, it is interesting to note that I found this post today about her book and it NOT being the most original idea. 

Then on Friday, I got an email from my friend Kelly Anderson of Startup Princess - regarding copying - she had used my post on a similar post for her blog.   

Hmmm, so ironic.  I love what Kelly wrote at the end of her blog:

Copying isn’t cool and it certainly ISN’T a compliment. If anything copying demonstrates lack of creativity and lack of compassion for others, particularly when money is concerned. I hope Startup Princesses take the challenge and always design with integrity and with pure intentions.

I just keep finding these stories, over and over again.  It is like when you want to have a baby and everywhere you turn around - all you see are babies, and pregnant mommies.

So,  these are both not the same thing - sort of a "horse of a different color" if you will.  Still - why can't everyone stay true to themselves and their ideas?  It may a total fluke that Jessica Seinfeld and Missy Chase Lapine had this idea about pureeing veggies for their kids, who knows?  I do know that sometimes the first one out of the gate is not always the winner, some very famous entrepreneurs know this.

Comments

[Kelly King Anderson]

Jamie, thanks for bringing this to my attention...last week my mom bought me Jessica's book and I've made several recipes already with it. I didn't know about the previous one (which I will now buy) because, yes, my Mom saw Jessica on Oprah (18 pairs of shoes is also a copy from what Sarah Jessica Parker gave Oprah, interesting!) and bought it for me at Target, is the other book even at Target? Maybe not. Ironically both DO have a picture of someone "shh-ing" on the cover, if it's not a copy, then why do the same logo concept? That said, I'm sure that Jessica had to have been working on her recipes for months (before the other one was released) because you just don't come up with 30+ recipes in a month, it requires a lot of effort, even if you hire a chef, so likely it is true that their paths crossed without knowing it initially.

When I was going to do http://www.PrincessSweet.com (you can see the video pitch) it was 2004 BEFORE I saw any of the Club Libby Lu's and other Princess Tea Party stores that are since out there...while I desperately WANTED to do this concept, won 2nd place at a national business plan competition and tried to raise funds for nearly 1 year to do it, (and really no one still to this day could ever execute like I originally was going to do), ultimately it would still be seen as a "Me too" business and be difficult without the kind of PR and aggressive marketing plan to get it noticed and the national retail expansion would be impossible without millions, literally. So, I put it aside for the eternities and moved forward with Startup Princess because it had momentum and even though there ARE other companies who support women entrepreneurs, we do have a unique spin, brand, and it didn't take millions to get it noticed in Entrepreneur or Costco Connection last Spring.

So, what's the answer to all of this? Yes, you can do anything with money, however, to be original it takes looking at the current market and asking yourself, is my contribution a "Me Too?" and if it IS, then ask "what can I offer that will set it apart and make it worthwhile for others to purchase and so at the end of the day you can say "The world is a better place because my concept exists"

[Jamie Lentzner]

Kelly,
Thanks for the comment - and the post said tha tthe other book came out 8 months earlier. Coincidence - probably, the thougth that no idea is new is proably true. Money CAN make things happen, and it is all who you know. I just found it interesting.

[Mindy]

See, my problem is a little less clear-cut. I'm The Mommy Blog. Have been since 2002. Don't think anyone called themselves that prior to that. I have the domains, all of them. Yet I am finding a new "The Mommy Blog" every five flipping minutes and it's driving me up a wall. Is the name too generic, like "Kleenex," where the name of the company has entered the vernacular and is eventually treated as public domain? GAH. Hey, this may be a post on my blog soon!

[Jamie Lentzner]

Ah Miss Mommy Blog - now I would be totally irritated if I was you, but when I did a search for fun, funny, mom blogs you came up first. When I was actually featured in an article in the SF Chronicle - the reporter called me a Mompreneur. The two women who wrote a book, and trade marked the term - sent a nasty email saying it could not be used....amusing at the time. I think there is a difference between totally copying and someting similar - but don't get me started you all KNOW how I feel! :) Thanks for the post!