FoxNews: Meghan Markle accused of plagiarism, copying children's author for canceled Netflix show

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Meghan Markle accused of plagiarism, copying children's author for canceled Netflix show

British author Mel Elliott, who authored a children's book series titled, "Pearl Power," claimed Meghan Markle copied her idea for her canceled Netflix show, "Pearl."
                       
                       
                           

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login is facing another wave of plagiarism claims. 

In a new interview with You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, British author Mel Elliott, who authored a children's book series titled "Pearl Power," claimed Markle's scrapped Netflix series, "Pearl," had "similarities" to her books that were "too great to ignore."

"Meghan is a feminist who sticks up for other women, so I was disappointed and confused to see how similar Netflix's proposed show 'Pearl' was to my own 'Pearl Power', who had been created seven years earlier," Elliott said of the animated series, which was originally announced in 2021, but canceled less than a year later. "Of course, I can't know if anyone on her team had seen it and been inspired by it, but the similarities were too great for me to ignore."

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The author, who had plans to turn her books into an animated series, claimed her attorney reached out to Markle and Netflix, but never received a response. 

"The similarities between your proposed animation series and my client's work appear to be too many and too striking to be mere coincidence," Elliott's lawyers allegedly wrote to Markle and Netflix in 2021. "It also appears that there is a risk that your proposed series may infringe intellectual property rights belonging to my client and/or may give rise to a claim in passing off."

As Elliot told the Daily Mail, "The world of arts and media are very competitive, and I'm afraid it's quite common for powerful people to rip off the work of less well-known creatives — although I'm not saying that's what happened here."

"What saddened me most is that, having brought the similarities between my 'Pearl' and Meghan's 'Pearl' to the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and Archewell, my objection was never acknowledged - neither Netflix nor Archewell responded to me when I would have loved to have contributed and collaborated," she added. 

Representatives for Markle and Netflix have not yet responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Markle's series, which also included Elton John's husband, David Furnish, as an executive producer, told the story of a little girl who "learns to step into her power."

Elliot's series focuses on equality and female empowerment. 

"Pearl" was canceled in May 2022.

"I am glad that Meghan's 'Pearl' show was dropped, and I hope that I had something to do with it," Elliot said. "But what I really wanted was for it to have gone ahead, and for me to have been acknowledged or invited to work as a collaborator on the series."

"'Pearl' was my dream project and now, annoyingly, if I reprise my own creation, it's going to look like I have copied the idea from someone else," she added.

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Earlier this year, Markle was met with accusations of copying others who came before her after announcing her You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, "Confessions of a Female Founder."

Many online immediately pointed out the similarities in the title to an already existing podcast, "Confessions of a CEO."

"Maybe you would like to know, Meghan Markle has ripped off another woman's podcast called 'confessions of a CEO,'" one user wrote on X. "A simple google search would help Meghan."

"Tell me you don't have a single original thought without telling me you don't have a single original thought," another user wrote with a screenshot of the "Confessions of a CEO" podcast page.

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After launching her cooking show on Netflix, many compared the endeavor to Pamela Anderson's cooking show. Anderson released "Pamela's Cooking with Love" in February, while You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login on March 4.

Royal expert Neil Sean, in a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login called Markle's show a "frame-for-frame" copy of Anderson's work in some cases.

"As you can see, Meghan has been inspired by her [Anderson's] cookery show, right?" Sean said, showing a shot of Markle high-fiving her guest on set next to one of Anderson high-fiving her guest. 

"There's very little new in the world of cookery," he said. "It's difficult to reinvent it, but Meghan didn't even bother with that. Clearly, she just got inspired."

Markle was also accused of stealing another's idea with the logo for her You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login.

Francisca "Xisca" Mora, the mayor of the Mallorcan town of Porreres in Spain, claimed to local outlets that the Duchess of Sussex's brand logo is "an exact copy" of their historic coat of arms. The logo for the 43-year-old's lifestyle brand You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. It highlights a black and white palm tree in the center flanked by two hummingbirds.

Fox News Digital's Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this post. 

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