Elizabeth LaBau, the proprietor of noted dessert blog SugarHero.com, has filed a copyright suit in a California federal court against the Food Network for creating a recipe video that she claims is a “shot-for-shot” replication of one of her most popular concoctions.
LaBau’s reciple for ‘Snow Globe Cupcakes’ — featuring edible gelatin formed into glass domes — was initially posted in December 2014 (pictured above), and subsequently went so viral that it temporarily shuttered her website, reports The Washington Post. The clip clocked 740,000 shares on Facebook and tripled her blogging incomes for that month.
But three weeks after LaBau featured the signature recipe again last Christmas, the Food Network posted its own tutorial video teaching viewers how to make ‘Edible Snow Globes’. In her suit, LaBau alleges that the Food Network’s 50-second-long Facebook video (below) pilfered many of the same angles, colors, and lighting as her original tutorial. LaBau claims she contacted Food Network for credit or attribution, but received no response. Now she is seeking $150,000 — per infringement — in damages. (As recipes generally can’t be copyrighted, according to the Post, the suit focuses on LaBau’s original video).
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“Competing with numerous corporate food websites, often backed by large companies with deep pockets, is very difficult as an individual and requires endless work,” reads a passage from the suit.
The Food Network has yet to comment.
