TMZ Reports

I looked into a comment that was made on a previous post by an anonymous commenter. It turns out there is some truth to it, so I took the liberty of posting the actual article. On August 4, 2009, this was published on TMZ.com.
"Turns out Stephenie Meyer, the woman behind the Twilight series, isn't the only person to write about sexy vampires -- 'cause she's being accused of ripping off the storyline for her fourth ultra-successful book by a less famous, less rich author.A woman named Jordan Scott fired off a cease and desist letter to the publisher of "Breaking Dawn" -- the fourth book in the series -- claiming the Twilight tale contains a "striking and substantial similarity" to Scott's book, "The Nocturne." In her extremely detailed letter, Scott claims her book was published in 2006 -- two years before "Breaking Dawn" -- and it's no coincidence that many of the scenes are almost identical. Such as... -- Both books contain a post-wedding sex scene-- Both books contain a scene about a woman who's sick because she's carrying a child with "evil powers"-- Both books contain a scene with the death of the main character's wifeAnd according to Scott, the dialogue in all of these scenes -- and more -- is extremely similar. But Meyer's rep is calling BS -- telling TMZ, "The claim that 'Breaking Dawn' by Stephenie Meyer somehow infringes on an alleged book by someone named Jordan Scott is completely without merit. Neither Stephenie Meyer nor her representatives had any knowledge of this writer or her supposed book prior to this claim.""

TMZ continues to report. On August 19, 2009, an actual lawsuit was filed:
"The author of the "Twilight" series is being sued by a woman who claims the 4th installment is a rip-off of her work. Jordan Scott claims in her lawsuit, filed today in federal court, that she began writing a novel "in the vampire genre" when she was just 15 -- back in 2003. The novel was published in 2006 and called "The Nocturne."Scott claims the 4th installment of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series lifted her work. She says Meyer's book -- "Breaking Dawn" is a "significant literary departure from [her] early books..." She says it seems the book is "written by a teenager." Yes, Scott was a teenager when she wrote "The Nocturne."Scott claims the two books "show striking, articulable and substantial similarities in the ... plot lines, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, characters, sequence of events, ideas and other similarities." TMZ published a story about the specific plot similarities... Scott is asking for damages, and that the court impound the "Breaking Dawn" books that are being sold."

So what do you think? Does anyone think this is a rip-off? And how easy would this be to prove? Do you know how many stories I've read with similar story lines!?! And there have been SO many vampire books that are EXACTLY like Twilight; stories that have been published after Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series came out. I guess what I'm trying to say is, though the story line is similar, this doesn't mean that Stephenie took the idea from anyone. I think anyone can have an idea and it be similar to someone else's but it doesn't mean the idea was stolen, by any means. I think this is silly! I would love to hear everyone's opinions on this. By the way, I am only one of several contributors to OTC, and my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other contributors.
-Tara D.