Another Da Vinci row in courts
2006-05-12 13:30
London - A British judge was confronted with another legal case involving The Da Vinci Code on Thursday - but this time, the dispute is over music, not words.
Universal Music Group is asking a High Court judge in London for an injunction stopping Sony BMG Music Entertainment from distributing a compact disc called "Music Inspired by Da Vinci," arguing that Sony was trying to "pass off" the CD as the film's soundtrack.
It alleges Sony is using imagery connected to the book and film to deceive buyers. But Sony argued that it has simply taken advantage of a marketing opportunity.
The Da Vinci Code premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday and is to debut in Britain and the United States on Friday. Universal released the official soundtrack to the film on May 15, the same day as Sony's offering.
The court will decide on Friday if a temporary injunction will be granted in the case, pending a full trial later this year.
In April, a British judge cleared Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown's publishers of copyright infringement. Authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh had sued Random House Inc, claiming Brown's best-selling novel "appropriated the architecture" of their 1982 nonfiction book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.
Both books explore theories that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, the couple had a child and the bloodline survives, ideas dismissed by most historians and theologians.
- AP