Nora Roberts sues Brazilian author, cites 'multiplagiarism'

NEW YORK (AP) — Best-selling novelist Nora Roberts is suing a Brazilian writer for copyright infringement, alleging that Cristiane Serruya has committed "multiplagiarism" on a "rare and scandalous" level.

In papers filed this morning in Rio de Janeiro, where Serruya lives, Roberts called Serruya's romance books "a literary patchwork, piecing together phrases whose form portrays emotions practically identical to those expressed in the plaintiff's books." Citing Brazilian law, Roberts is asking for damages at 3,000 times the value of the highest sale price for any Serruya work mentioned in the lawsuit.

"If you plagiarize, I will come for you," Roberts told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview. "If you take my work, you will pay for it, and I will do my best to see you don't write again."

Roberts added she would donate any damages from the lawsuit to a literacy program in Brazil.

An Associated Press reporter who went to the building where Serruya lives in Rio de Janeiro was not received by the author. Messages sent by email and Facebook message were not immediately returned.

Serruya's novels, all apparently self-published, include the series "Shades of Trust," ''Shades of Love" and "Ever More." The court papers cite six Serruya books for including lifted passages: "Royal Love," ''Royal Affair," ''Unbroken Love," ''Hot Winter," ''Forever More" and "From the Baroness's Diary."

The lawsuit alleges Serruya copied passages from Roberts' "Unfinished Business," ''River Ends" and "Whiskey Beach," and includes examples of close similarities between their books. Roberts' suit alleges that Serruya has copied passages from dozens of other authors, too.

Speaking to the AP, Roberts also criticized Amazon.com for not being more vigilant about the books sold on its site. Roberts and authors have complained that Amazon's Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription program, for which royalties are based on how many pages are read the first time the customer reads them, is an incentive for unscrupulous writers to quickly throw together material from other sources.