Writer Christopher Janes Kimberley of Albany, New York filed a complaint against Chelsea Clinton alleging Clinton committed copyright infringement by ripping off his book idea.
Earlier this year, Clinton released a children’s book entitled, “She Persisted”, a phrase made famous when Sen. Elizabeth Warren was shut down by Senate Majority Leader McConnell for violating floor rules.
Kimberley is suing both Penguin Random House and Clinton, claiming $150,000 in damages, the maximum allowed.
The New York Post reports:
“I did months of painstaking research on my book. Her version looks like a ninth-grade homework assignment,” he vented to The Post. “I am in disbelief.”The little-known writer claims he sent a pitch for his illustrated kids book, “A Heart is the Part That Makes Boys And Girls Smart,” to the president of Penguin Young Readers US, Jennifer Loja, in May 2013, according to the lawsuit.Instead of publishing it, she passed the idea off to Clinton, who cashed in on his hard work, he claims in court papers.“She Persisted,” published May 30, features at least three of the same quotes from inspiring historical women — including Helen Keller, Harriet Tubman and Nellie Bly — that appear in Kimberley’s book, along with similar images, the writer claims.Clinton’s book centers on “13 American Women Who Changed the World” and is an “unauthorized reproduction of [Kimberly’s] work,” court papers state.“The appearance of impropriety is striking,” he says in the lawsuit.The writer filed a cease and desist order in April to stop Clinton from publishing the book.Clinton’s book is a now a New York Times best seller.
Oddly, Kimberley is representing himself.
If we’re being fair here, it’s mighty presumptuous to believe the president of a publishing company read a Facebook message from a stranger and then pitched that idea to Chelsea Clinton, who wrote, or had the book ghostwritten. I’m not suggesting it’s impossible, but it’s certainly improbable.
Making the ordeal even stranger, The Daily Mail reported that Kimberley’s “A Heart is the Part That Makes Boys And Girls Smart” has been available online and “‘free to the public’ since 2014 for educational purposes.”
Full complaint here:
Kimberley v Chelsea Clinton – Complaint by Legal Insurrection on Scribd
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
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