Conan O'Brien: I Don't Steal Jokes from Bloggers

Conan O'Brien's no Fat Jewish -- he insists he and his staff came up with the jokes they're accused of stealing from a blogger ... who's not all that original anyway, according to Conan's new legal docs.

Robert Kaseberg sued Conan for copyright infringement, claiming several of his monologue jokes were lifted from Kaseberg's online blog -- but Conan responded to the suit this week, saying his material is 100% "independently created."

Truth is, some of the jokes are very similar -- but Conan says Kaseberg's comedy was so general and based on current events, it can't be copyrighted. For instance, they wrote almost identical shrinkage quips about an announcement the Washington Monument is 10 inches shorter than previously thought.

Conan's kinda calling Kaseberg's jokes lame. Yes, that also comes off like a shot at his own monologue writers, but Conan's bigger point is you can't steal something so unoriginal.