Historians Lose Da Vinci Code Appeal

Mar 28, 07:10 PM

Current Headlines: Two historians have lost another legal battle in British courts over claims that US author Dan Brown stole their ideas for his blockbuster novel The Da Vinci Code.

Three of Britain's senior judges dismissed the appeal by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh against an earlier High Court ruling which had also rejected their claims.

In their action against the novel's British publishers Random House, Baigent and Leigh claimed that Brown copied significant parts of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.

Both books raised the ire of the Catholic Church for suggesting that Mary Magdalene had a child by Jesus that fled to France after the Crucifixion, and that Christ's bloodline survives to this day.

In the appeal, the historians' lawyers argued that High Court judge Justice Smith had misunderstood the law and the basis of their claims.

Brown's wife Blythe, who emerged during the original case last year as a key researcher and inspiration for the author, knew she was relying exclusively on the historians' book for the chapters, they said.

But the Appeal Court judges backed Brown. "In my judgment, the judge rightly held that the claimants have not established that a substantial part of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail has been copied," said Lord Justice John Mummery in his ruling.

Baigent and Leigh said they had not complained for the sake of it.

"We feel that today is an ominous one for those who wish to research a book on their own and come up with their own theories," they said.

Agencies

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