In a follow-up to the story we have been reporting concerning the court case brought against “The Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown, today a British court found him not guilty of plagiarizm.
Two of the three authors of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” claimed that Brown had used their investigative approach from their book to write “The Da Vinci Code” and leveled a lawsuit against both Brown and his publisher Random House. However, once on the stand Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, the authors bringing the suit, started back-peddling on their accusations.
The High Court in London stated that even if the central themes may have been copied, “they are too general or of too low a level of abstraction to be capable of protection by copyright law.”
After the court found in his favor an outwardly relieved Brown stated, “….shows that this claim was utterly without merit. “I’m still astonished that these two authors chose to file their suit at all.” Brown went on to state emphatically, “A novelist must be free to draw appropriately from historical works without fear that he’ll be sued … This is a good day both for those who write and those who enjoy reading.”
Random House, who published both works was also outwardly relieved. The publishing company’s CEO Gail Rebuck spoke out saying, “We are pleased that justice and common sense have prevailed.”
However, Baigent and Leigh did not leave the proceedings happy as the High Court of Britain denied them the ability to appeal the case and levied a court bill toward them in the neighborhood of 1 million pounds, or $1.75 million US.
Summer says
Okay, raise your hand if you think that the two authors were initially hoping that the deep pockets would settle out of court, but realized too late that their attempted scam went just a little too far when they had to swear an oath in High Court to tell the truth.
Steve from Ireland says
Yes, that appears to be my hand… in the air.
Glad they got hit with the bill, cheeky muppets :p
TallGirl says
“Baigent and Leigh did not leave the proceedings happy as the High Court of Britain …levied a court bill toward them in the neighborhood of 1 million pounds, or $1.75 million US.”
[raising hand with Steve]
That’s what should happen to you when you file a frivilous scammy lawsuit.
Bronzethumb says
*raises hand*
Nigel in Melbourne says
Yep. Hand in the air as well.