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D-Day for Da Vinci Code author
13/03/2006 10:21 - (SA)
London - Dan Brown has sat quietly during more than a week of intense courtroom argument about his world-conquering best-seller, The Da Vinci Code.
On Monday, the attention-shy writer is due to step into the spotlight, taking the witness stand to refute charges he copied from other writers' work.
Authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are suing Da Vinci Code publisher Random House for copyright infringement, claiming Brown "appropriated the architecture" of their 1982 nonfiction book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Both books explore theories - dismissed by theologians but embraced by millions of readers - that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, the couple had a child and the bloodline survives.
If the writers succeed in securing an injunction to bar the use of their material, they could hold up the scheduled May 19 release of The Da Vinci Code film starring Tom Hanks.
Random House lawyers argue that the ideas in dispute are so general they are not protected by copyright. They also say many of the ideas in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail do not feature in Brown's novel, which follows fictional professor Robert Langdon as he investigates the murder of an elderly member of an ancient society that guards dark secrets about the story of Jesus and the quest for the Holy Grail.
Brown, 41, has traveled from his home in the US state of New Hampshire to sit in courtroom 61 of London's High Court as lawyers dissect the books' accounts of the medieval Knights Templar, the secretive Priory of Sion and the Merovingian royal line allegedly descended from Jesus.
Lawyers, witnesses and Judge Peter Smith have pored over well-thumbed paperback copies of the two books and consulted related works with titles like The Templar Revelation and The Woman with the Alabaster Jar.
Cross-examination
During more than three days of cross-examination last week by Random House lawyer John Baldwin, Baigent conceded that several key points in the claimants' case were wrong - including the claim that The Da Vinci Code contained all the same historical conjecture as the earlier book.
"I would concede that 'all' is far too strong," Baigent said. "I would say 'most."'
Brown's fast-moving theological thriller has sold more than 40 million copies since it was published three years ago this week. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail - a more modest best-seller on its release - has seen a surge in sales since the trial began, going from about 350 copies sold a week in Britain to 3 000, according trade publication The Bookseller.
The third author of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Henry Lincoln, is not involved in the case. A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Paul Sutton, refused to say why he was not participating.
Lincoln, who is in his 70s and reportedly in poor health, could not be reached for comment.
- AP
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South Africa
