Dan Brown, the American author of the hugely successful novel The Da Vinci Code, was accused on Monday of appropriating the work of two authors of a 1980s non-fiction book “to save the time and effort that independent research would have required”.
Mr Brown made a rare public appearance to hear the start of a ground-breaking copyright infringement claim against Random House, his publisher, at the High Court in London. The publishing company says the claim is “without merit”.
Lawyers for Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who are two of three authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, told Mr Justice Peter Smith it was the entire "architecture" of their book that had been appropriated by Mr Brown, rather than just disparate features.
“The claimants are not alone in thinking this – many people all over the world have commented to the same effect since The Da Vinci Code was first published,” they claimed.
“Many, many people have identified, quite rightly, that The Da Vinci Code and The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail describe the same theme.”
The non-fiction book, which gained notoriety for its controversial views two decades ago, suggested that Jesus may have been married to Mary Magdalene and had a child by her. By fleeing to France, she may have established a European bloodline.
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Mr Brown made a rare public appearance to hear the start of a ground-breaking copyright infringement claim against Random House, his publisher, at the High Court in London. The publishing company says the claim is “without merit”.
Lawyers for Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who are two of three authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, told Mr Justice Peter Smith it was the entire "architecture" of their book that had been appropriated by Mr Brown, rather than just disparate features.
“The claimants are not alone in thinking this – many people all over the world have commented to the same effect since The Da Vinci Code was first published,” they claimed.
“Many, many people have identified, quite rightly, that The Da Vinci Code and The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail describe the same theme.”
The non-fiction book, which gained notoriety for its controversial views two decades ago, suggested that Jesus may have been married to Mary Magdalene and had a child by her. By fleeing to France, she may have established a European bloodline.
Source