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Da Vinci Code Author Sued

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the prior-art-in-my-head dept.

riptalon writes "Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, is being sued in the UK for using ideas from a previous non fiction book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail in his novel. The Bangkok Post states that 'The question the court is facing is whether you can copyright an idea, a conjecture.'"

8 of 591 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I feel like i'm back in High School English aga by terrymr · · Score: 2, Informative

    There was a saying among students I went to college with : "Copying from a single source is called plagiarism, copying from multiple source is called research"

  2. Try "Foucault's Pendulum" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's a vastly richer narrative.

  3. Editors DO SOME WORK by MountainMan101 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Dan Brown is not being sued.
    RandomHouse, the publisher is being sued.

  4. Re:I feel like i'm back in High School English aga by noxon · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dan Brown mentions Holy Blood, Holy Grail within the book. He also mentions it in the bibliography connected to the book on his own website. Several documentaries and books have made the obvious connection about the two books. So I dunno what this is all about, cause it's most certainly not about credit.

  5. Re:Hardly "unique". by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, Mary Magdalene.

  6. Re:I feel like i'm back in High School English aga by welcher · · Score: 2, Informative
    It's about the publicity. HBHG sales have taken off again with all the court case news - see http://books.guardian.co.uk/danbrown/story/0,,1719 147,00.html:

    The legal action has seen The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail shoot up the Amazon.co.uk bestseller chart from number 173 at lunchtime, to 102 by 2.30pm and was at 53 late this afternoon.

  7. Re:It's funny that they're up in arms by cjHopman · · Score: 2, Informative
    ...some pretty scandalous and usually demonstrably false claims...

    Kinda like the claim that christ existed?... Ya know, that guy who did all these miraculous things but who not a word was written about until nearly 70 years after his death...?

  8. Re:Fact? Or Fiction? by Vintermann · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Sion

    has a good description of the original conspiracy theories and their journey from Pierre Plantard, to Henry Lincoln, to B & L and finally to Dan Brown. But Dan Brown does not admit that his work is based on the fabrications of a megalomaniacal frenchman - at least not all the time.

    --
    xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.