A plagiarism lawsuit has been filed by best-selling author Nora Roberts against Brazilian author Christiane Serruya. After a few speculative weeks, the case was finally taken to court where romance writer Serruya stands accused of copying work at a ‘rare and scandalous level’.
Nora Roberts, who has written 100s of novels and sold millions worldwide, filed the suit against Serruya in Rio De Janeiro.
The alleged plagiarism first brought to the attention of romance novelist Courtney Milan by her readers who uncovered many examples of almost identical passages taken from different authors. Fellow author Nora Roberts then discovered 41 authors over 93 books had been copied by Serruya, writing on her blog:
“The scope of her theft is so huge, so stunningly wide, she really has nowhere to go, no excuses or reasons that can possibly hold even a drop of water”.
Photo credit: Marty Katz for The New York Times
Christiane Serruya
Nora Roberts is demanding damages at 3000 times the sale price for any one of Serruya’s books- 6 of which are cited as including multiple plagiarised passages taken from Roberts’ books and dozens of other authors. Serruya’s books have been shown to be “a literary patchwork, piecing together phrases whose form portrays emotions practically identical to those expressed in the plaintiff’s books.”
Books such as Royal Love and From the Baroness’s Diary by Cristiane Serruya have been shown to contain plagiarised passages, including examples of similarities with Roberts’ books Unfinished Business, River Ends and Whiskey Beach.
Roberts told the New York Times:
“If you plagiarise, I will come for you. If you take my work, you will pay for it and I will do my best to see you don’t write again. A lot of the other writers involved in this, they don’t have the money to fight it. I do have the money.”
Some of the passages are blatant- including some that are word-for-word exactly the same. Serruya blames ghost writers for the plagiarism and that she ‘could not guarantee’ that the ghostwriters had not used work from Roberts and other writers.
It seems Ms Serruya should focus on writing her own books instead of using ghostwriters to rip off the work of fellow authors. Maybe then she will know what is going into her stories… And won’t be accused of plagiarism.
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