Authors fail in Da Vinci Code plea

12 April 2012

American author Dan Brown did not copy large parts of an earlier book to produce his blockbuster novel, The Da Vinci Code, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, two of the three authors of The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail, who pursued publisher Random House through the High Court to the Court of Appeal, now face a total legal costs bill approaching £3 million.

High Court judge Mr Justice Peter Smith in April last year cleared Brown of copyright infringement of ideas set out in The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail (HBHG).

But Baigent and Leigh took the case to the Court of Appeal, claiming the theme of the book that made Brown the highest-paid author in history was taken from their 1982 work.

The defendant in the case is not Dan Brown, who was a witness at the High Court hearing, but Random House, publishers of both DVC and, by a coincidence, HBHG. But Mr Justice Peter Smith said at the end of the High Court case: "In reality Mr Brown is on trial over the authorship of DVC."

Mr Justice Peter Smith ordered that Baigent and Leigh should pay 85% of Random House costs which were estimated at nearly £1.3 million. They also have to pay their own legal costs which would be on a similar scale.

Random House on Wednesday was awarded the costs of the appeal, estimated at £300,000 for each side.

HBHG deals with a theory that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married, had a child and the bloodline continues to this day, with a secret society protecting their heirs against wicked conspiracies enacted by the Church.

It is similar to the theme explored in the Brown novel which has earned the author hundreds of millions of pounds worldwide since its publication in 2003.

Brown, who spent three days in the witness box during the three-week trial, said the accusations were "completely fanciful" and HBHG was just one of the works studied for his novel. He did not attend the appeal hearing.

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