Oprah Winfrey was ranked No. 155 on Forbes' list of wealthiest Americans in 2008, but a writer wants to subtract $1 trillion from that fortune.
The National Enquirer is reporting that Winfrey is the subject of an intellectual property lawsuit filed on July 31 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Damon Lloyd Goffe of the Bronx, N.Y., is reportedly suing Winfrey and her production company, Harpo, claiming she plagiarized portions of the first draft of his book, "A Tome of Poetry," for her Internet-published work called "Pieces of My Soul," according to the Enquirer. Goffe acknowledges that the Internet book is no longer available. Hmmm.
Goffe claims Winfrey sold 650 million copies of the book online for $20 each, which adds up to one hefty sum.
So if Goffe's claims are true, that means his book -- which we weren't able to find on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble's Web sites, by the way -- outsold the entire Harry Potter series. The book does seem to have been outsold by the Bible, which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, has sold 2.5 billion copies since 1815.
The lawsuit seems a little sketchy, but it wouldn't be the first time Winfrey has been the subject of an unusual lawsuit.
In 1996, a group of Texas cattlemen sued Winfrey and a guest on her show, Howard Lyman of the Humane Society, after he warned of a possible outbreak of mad cow disease in the U.S. The plaintiffs claimed the episode caused massive damage to the cattle market, causing a loss of $11 million. That suit was dismissed with prejudice in 2002.
Forbes listed Winfrey's net worth at $2.7 billion for 2008.
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