A food blogger based in Utah sued the Food Network for allegedly stealing her snow globe cupcakes idea. Elizabeth LaBau, who is behind the site SugarHero.com, shared a recipe in 2014 on how to make appealing and edible snow globe cupcakes.
Elizabeth LaBau, whom Washington Post cited as a social media influencer in 2016, posted an instructional video detailing the complicated and time-consuming process of molding gelatin sheets into water balloons so that this can be placed on top of a basic cupcake. Her snow globe cupcake recipe went viral because of how she was able to make a plain dessert extraordinary.
LaBau also released her video in December, hence her Christmas-themed novelty dessert came at just the right time. She cited in her lawsuit that her website crashed because it was getting many hits from visitors who were interested in her how-to post and video.
LaBau, however, wasn't suing the Food Network for copying the recipe because there's no copyright claim over the ingredients. She alleged the Food Network copied her how-to-video and the company posted their version of the snow globe cupcakes three weeks after her video went up.
Taking the video down
In her lawsuit, Elizabeth LaBau indicated she asked the Food Network to take their video down or at least credit her site for the inspiration for her "creative proprietary work." Her lawyer, William Bowen, said the network copied the images almost shot-for-shot, "including but not limited to choices of shots, camera angles, colors, and lighting, textual descriptors, and other artistic and expressive elements."
The food blogger relied on advertising revenue from her site's content to sustain SugarHero.com.
She saw a drop in her income when the competing video went up. Before Food Network launched their version, she was taking three times more than her average income just for the snow globe cupcake how-to post. Take a look at both videos below for comparison.
On her site, Elizabeth LaBau said she read about gelatin bubbles and pearl cakes via CakeCentral.com.
She first saw fellow food blogger Heather from Sprinklebakes.Com use gelatin bubbles on cupcakes and from there, the holiday-themed idea sprung.
Meanwhile, the Food Network has declined to comment on the lawsuit and told the BBC it was only made aware of the complaint recently. Bowen hopes the broadcast company will initiate steps and address LaBau's concern.
