DaVinci Code writer wins suit in London.

[spanone]

No link yet.

[Orrex]

1. Brown's work is piffle

But this is a victory for writers of historical fiction.

[LostinVA]

2. Good -- it was a frivolous suit

[WiseButAngrySara]

3. Good! It's being reported just now on MSNBC. ...n/t

[Warpy]

4. LINK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4886234.stm

The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown did not breach the copyright of an earlier book, London's High Court has ruled.

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, who wrote 1982 book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, sued Random House, publisher of both books.

Mr Brown said the verdict "shows that this claim was utterly without merit".

[kay1864]

5. Not only that..

The other side now has to pay Brown's legal fees of $1.75 million.

OTOH, with the boost in sales for "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", they probably still come out ahead... :eyes:

[Bridget Burke]

6. And Brown gets even more publicity for the upcoming move.

Winners all 'round.

He DID rip off Holy Blood Holy Grail, but the authors had called it non-fiction. So they had no real legal case.

[kay1864]

8. I'm trying to figure out if...

there will be more pinheads-marching-with-blasphemy-signs for this movie, vs. "The Life of Brian" or "The Last Temptation of Christ".

And as usual, none of them will have seen the movie.

***WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD**** if you haven't read the book













On one hand, the book/movie mostly disses the Catholic church, so the fundie Baptists are fine with that, so we might have only Catholic fundies marching. OTOH, the notion that Jesus was married and had children (which means he had s*e*x) might spur the Protestant fundies into action.

Either way, I hope Ron Howard and Tom Hanks make lots of money. Nice guys both.

[Bridget Burke]

10. I haven't read the book but I did read HBHG!

And I've heard a lot about it. Now that it's out in paperback, I really need to read it--if I can find it at Half Price Books.

It's appalling that Mary Magdalene's story was conflated with that of a prostitute--& sometimes that of a madwoman. But I see this new "theory" as another deflection. Recent Magdalane scholarship suggests that she was an important disciple--not just "Mrs Jesus."

[kay1864]

11. Yes, Da Vinci Code...

also references the "most important disciple" theme. I hope that made it into the movie script.

The Catholic church (after hundreds of years) finally admitted Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute--in 1967, IIRC. The amazing thing is that ignernt reporters STILL refer to her as a prostitute. Idiots.

[kay1864]

9. Come to think of it...

I'm not sure Brown will get a bigger profit if the movie does well. Typically a writer (especially if he/she doesn't do the screenplay adaptation, which they usually don't) gets a lump sum payment for the movie rights. Usually it's only the director and the big stars that get a percentage of the gross.

OTOH, IIRC this is the biggest best-seller in history (except for the Harry Potter novels), so he may well have negotiated a percentage deal.

[SmokingJacket]

7. This is a very good thing.

You can't copyright historical theories.

If he'd cribbed pages from the other book, that would be a problem.

Writers of fiction everywhere are breathing sighs of relief.