Mon 27 Feb 2006
Dan Brown faces 'copying' challenge
Dan Brown sat at the opposite end of a court bench from two writers who claim he copied their work for his blockbuster novel, The Da Vinci Code, in the Chancery Division of the High Court.
Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are suing their own publishers, Random House, claiming the internationally successful novel lifts from their 1982 book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, itself a best seller.
This non-fiction work deals with theories that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married, had a child, and the blood line continues to this day - with the Catholic Church trying to suppress the discovery.
It is similar to the theme explored in the Dan Brown novel which won best book at last year's British Book Awards and has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, earning the author £45 million in one year.
If the two writers are successful and opt to take injunctions stopping use of their material, it could threaten the British release of the film adaptation of the novel, starring Tom Hanks and Sir Ian McKellen, which is scheduled to open on May 19.
The case, expected to last up to two weeks, is also likely to clarify existing copyright laws over the extent to which an author can use other people's research.
Dan Brown, whose earnings are estimated at more than £200 million, acknowledges the theories of The Holy Blood in his novel and names the villain in his story Sir Leigh Teabing, which, it has been suggested, was a deliberate part anagram of the surnames of the authors of the earlier work.
The two books - which deal with parallel versions of the fate of Jesus Christ - have ended up in the High Court before Mr Justice Peter Smith.
He was told by Jonathan James QC, representing the Holy Blood authors, that The Da Vinci Code is an infringement of his clients' copyright.
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Related topic
The Da Vinci Code cover (U.K.)
 and , who jointly wrote together with a third author, a 1982 Non-Fiction book '''' have taken '''' publisher , to court claiming that The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail storyline has been stolen by .

The third author of ''The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail'' , is not involved in the case.

Random House is the of publisher of both ''The Da Vinci Code'' and ''The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail''.

The central theme of the two books is that the bloodline from a marriage between  and  survives today. 

Random House has denied the claim and, Random House chief executive Gail Rebuck says in a statement that she believed the lawsuit was without merit.

"As publisher of both ''The Da Vinci Code'' and ''The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail'', we are genuinely saddened that two of the three authors of HBHG have chosen to bring this litigation against us...Random House takes no pleasure in defending a legal action that it believes is without merit and we are confident that we will prevail."

If this case is successful it could threaten the film; starring  and  from opening. 

''The Da Vinci Code'' is a fiction book and has over 36 million copies in print worldwide.  The dust jacket for the novel apparently includes longitude and latitude coordinates which lead to the  headquarters near , . 

Brown's next book, ''The Solomon Key'', is rumoured to be about the Yale  society.  Notable alumni of the society include current United States President George W. Bush, former President George H.W. Bush, and Massachusettes Senator John Kerry.