I highly recommend, if you are on the fence about the Cassandra Clare case. You read this court document.
The fact that you can put each character and plot point next to each other and they are the exact same. Says something. I didn’t think they were going to have much of a case. But when it’s this similar. Down to a rebellious sister whose cooking is mocked. I have no sympathy for CC and I will no longer be supporting her books/shows/endeavors.
There’s literally 15 pages that list every single similarity! It’s insane! I’m surprised Clare didn’t get sued earlier. Can someone who’s read both series confirm that these comparisons are accurate though??
Cause I saw someone asking in the reblogs and someone else claiming that the Dark-Hunter series was published after The Mortal Instruments….
Also, there’s this from the initial report of the lawsuit:
On Friday, Kenyon sued Cassandra Clare aka Judith Rumelt aka Judith Lewis, claiming her “Shadowhunter” series initially used Kenyon’s trademark “darkhunter.” After Kenyon demanded that Clare remove the word “darkhunter” from her work, Clare used the term “shadowhunter” for her protagonists instead, according to the lawsuit. The word “hunter” was also removed from the book title. Clare’s book, “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,” was published in 2007. Since then, Clare has expanded her use of the term “shadowhunter” despite assurances that she would not, according to Kenyon.
You can find the initial report of the lawsuit here.
I’ve read the first three books (but they’ve been on my reread list for a while) in the series and I can confirm from my recollections that having read through that list? The similarities are pretty fucking damning.
Also, for those who want further reading on the subject of this lawsuit, you can read more here. That contains these two points:
12. In 2006, PLAINTIFF was alerted by some of her distressed fans of the potential
publication by CLARE of a work that incorporated PLAINTIFF’s Dark-Hunter Marks. PLAINTIFF demanded that the term “darkhunter” and the Dark-Hunter Marks be removed from
CLARE’s work. CLARE removed the term “darkhunter” and the Dark-Hunter Marks from her
work, substituting instead the term “shadowhunters” for her protagonist, but removing any
reference to “hunter” (whether “shadow” or “dark”) from the title; the book was published in 2007
as “The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones.” Despite PLAINTIFF’s continuing protests and continuous assurances from CLARE and CLARE’s publisher that she/they would not expand the
use of the “shadowhunters” term or adopt it as a trademark, CLARE has persisted over time in
expanding her use of the term “shadowhunters” from a mere description of her protagonists, first
to a tag line on the cover of her works and eventually to a complete rebranding of her works so as
to be confusingly similar to the Dark Hunter Series. CLARE’s works are now listed on CLARE’s
website, “shadowhunters.com” under the category of “Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunters” and
include the series of “Mortal Instruments” novels along with “The Infernal Devices,” “The Dark
Artifices,” “Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy,” “The Bane Chronicles,” “The Last Hours,”
and “The Shadowhunter’s Codex”, each a “Shadowhunter Book” (and collectively, the
“Shadowhunter Series”).
13. The Dark-Hunter Series and the Shadowhunter Series are so similar that CLARE’S
own publisher mistakenly printed 100,000 copies of a Shadowhunter Book referencing the DarkHunter
Mark on the cover. Upon written demand by PLAINTIFF, CLARE’s publisher destroyed
tens of thousands of the Shadowhunter Book that contained PLAINTIFF’s Dark-Hunter Mark on
its cover. Despite the destruction of tens of thousands of copies of this Shadowhunter Book, thousands of Shadowhunter Books including the Dark Hunter Marks on the cover have now been
sold and substantial commercial confusion has resulted.
^^This should clarify things if people are wondering what the fuss is about. It’s more than a couple of similarities (which books based on the same sort of thing are going to have)
Oh look, someone who started plagiarizing when she was writing fanfic (conveniently left off her wiki page) has been caught plagiarizing yet again.
I bet all those suckers who paid for her to get a new laptop a long time ago in another magical fandom are pleased to hear this.
I remember watching the Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle unspool in real time from the minimum safe distance of not writing for HP’s huge, wanky fandom. Color me unsurprised.
Every time I think I’ve heard the last of her, Cassandra Claire emerges from the depths of her own infamy like the plague. In bouts and fatalistic spates. I still remember when all her shit was going down on livejournal, so seeing this makes me feel ancient. I was there Gandalf…three thousand years ago…
It’s surreal to watch this unfold now. Like ah yes, the plagiarist who was a known plagiarist is being taken to court for plagiarism. Shocker.
