Dan Brown’s Day In Court
Written by Major Tom
Filed under: Entertainment News
February 27, 2006
One day last week, I didn’t know exactly why I did it but I just picked and opened the pages of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” once more and read through it from the beginning like I was reading it just for the first time. I was traversing the length of the stairway of our house one morning and when I reached the topmost, the book just presented itself as it lay over a pile of old and dusting medical books, ruggedly stacked above an old wooden cabinet. I instantaneously decided to just pass by it, immediately recognizing it as that “one famous-book” that I have read sometime last year. However, its golden-yellow cover almost shimmered like hidden treasures amidst the aging humongous books that I went one step backward and just grabbed it almost without thought—like I was hypnotized crafty Mona Lisa smile on the book’s covering. I used to reread many of the books that I have read in the past , especially those that affected me so sublimely like Pat Conroy’s “The Prince of Tides” and Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club” but I never scoured the pages of a novel that I read just about a number of months ago, like six months. It usually takes the passing of more than a year before I did any rereading. But I read “The Da Vinci Code” even though I felt that I just read it yesterday and I was a little bit amazed that despite of that, I actually enjoyed rereading it—like it was the first time all over again. This could be the reason why this book was hailed as ultimately groundbreaking and truly phenomenal. I have a feeling that there’s no serious reader left out there that haven’t got to read it.
CNN reports today that the movie version of the “The Da Vinci Code” may not be screened as scheduled on May 19 this summer as a couple of writers have filed infringement suit against “The Da Vinci Code” author Dan Brown. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh accused Brown of stealing their “ideas and themes” as detailed in the book “Holy Blood and Holy Grail,” which Baigent and Leigh co-authored in 1982 ( This book was even mentioned in one of the chapters of Dan Brown’s phenomenal novel). Now, this could be the silliest copyright suit that I have ever heard, as if the story of the Holy Grail and the Knights Templar were owned by some individual or group of individual. Isn’t the Indiana Jones movies all about the mythical cup from which Jesus Christ had drank upon when He once walked on earth? Maybe, there are finer details where Dan Brown could have been guilty of stealing (like for example the name Sauniere and Plantard both appeared in Dan Brown’s novel and “Holy Blood and Holy Grail” but name of persons, especially if they were of real people, are not susceptible of ownership except by the persons having such names themselves.) but “ideas and themes” are not exactly the things that one can assume to own and nobody else. Ideas are often broad concepts that at any one time, two or more people may be having it or thinking about it even though they do not know each other and are situated very far apart, a kind of simultaneous discovery concept found in our copyright and infringement laws. I itch to see how American courts decide on this suits against Mr. Brown.
This book, “The Da Vinci Code”, is really one exciting book and truly very entertaining but there is one aspect of the book that is hardly fancy as Hollywood or showbiz. Although it is a work of fiction, it somehow exposes some countervailing theories about the life and times of Jesus Christ, foremostly his divinity (in connection with The Council of Nicea’s pronouncements). Before Dan Brown, such ruminations were already prevailing and have undeniably influenced a lot of people—both the ordinary and the known—to sway from the more accepted biblical narrations of Christ’s life. Well, I know faith is often strong as the mountain but in these modern times, a very popular book like “The Da Vinci Code” could just lay it into ruin. Sometimes fiction is just not fiction.
I personally haven’t read Dan Browns book because I was already familiar with the ‘Grail family’ theory proposed by michael baigent,richard leigh, and henry lincoln. The three authors of the book HBHG (holy blood, holy grail), and “The Messianic Legacy”. I prefer to read non-fiction..
I remember more than 10 years ago, I almost had a verbal spat with the ‘born-again christian’ manager of the company I was working for when I wanted to discuss with him, HBHG which I was reading at the time. he called me a blasphemer for reading that book. LOL!
Anyways, I posted this story and Dan Brown’s book in relation to HGBG in my blog last year.
Comment by snglguy — February 28, 2006 @ 7:49 am
It looks like a book could actually cost you your job. I bet luckily, being a “blasphemer” wasn’t enough to send you packing off the streets by your tight-assed manager then.
Hope you had provided a link to the post snglguy coz I would really like to read it. Or maybe I could just searched through your blog then.
Comment by Major Tom — February 28, 2006 @ 8:20 am
Lewis Perdue also has a pending case against Brown, one that the American courts seem to discount. What is interesting about Perdue’s case is the parallels of their works: there are scenes, characters and even personal biases in Code that are almost a mirror images of those found in Perdue’s trilogy. John Olsson, Director of the Forensic Linguistics Institute even said that “This is the most blatant example of in-your-face plagiarism I’ve ever seen. There are literally hundreds of a parallels.”
It’s funny how Brown’s other books - A&D, Deception Point, and Digital Fortress - are all boring reads ;p
Comment by jorge — February 28, 2006 @ 8:22 am
Hi jorge. There might be certain details that Dan Brown might have adapted from some other works, like what you just enumerated. Maybe if the coincidences are just too innumerable, then the American courts might just conclude that Dan Brown is an “in-your-face plagiarizer”. But we’ll never know by this time. This infringement case might prove to be more exhillirating than the “The Da Vinci Code” itself.
Comment by Major Tom — February 28, 2006 @ 8:36 am
Hi Major Tom, this is the link to that post…http://thatslifeandotherthings.blogspot.com/20051001thatslifeandotherthingsarchive.html
Comment by snglguy — February 28, 2006 @ 1:36 pm
Ooops, sorry, this IS the actual link, sorry, hehe.
http://thatslifeandotherthings.blogspot.com/2005/10/who-me-blasphemous.html
Comment by snglguy — February 28, 2006 @ 1:39 pm
Michael Baigent co-authored the “Dead Sea Scrolls Deception” and “The Messianic Legacy” - terrific books that had found space in my bookshelf.
I haven’t had the chance to read ” Holy Blood, Holy Grail” or “Da Vinci” code yet but Baigent wrote HB,HG a couple of decades ago and I am not surprised if Brown picked up a little bit too much info from the book. Oh well, we know of those infringement cases lawyers who make a living of searching for someone to sue.
Comment by bw — February 28, 2006 @ 2:54 pm
interesting. just wondering why it is only now that baigent et al filed the case? dan browns book has been in circulation for sometime now.
Comment by ka uro — March 1, 2006 @ 2:38 am
To snglguy: Thanks for providing the link man. I surely would like to read it.
To BW: You must be right about some ambulant-chasing lawyers wanting to cash-in on some potential infringement laws violation. Although now its getting clearer, after all of you put in some of your infos, that Brown may just have delve too much into some other’s work–or a little too much I say.
To Ka Uro: Must be what BW was insinuating and must be also that Mr. Brown is raking so much money now from his book’s phenomenal success and the proceeds from the upcoming movie, which I am sure would be a huge blockbuster. When some guy have that kind of instant and enormous success, somehow and someway, somebody would have to think that he or she should deserved those instead or at least part of the stash.
Comment by Major Tom — March 1, 2006 @ 5:22 am
Ka Uro, et al: I don’t know about BW, but Perdue filed his case sometime in 2001-2002 but Random House (Brown’s publisher) has been blocking it in the US.
Comment by jorge — March 2, 2006 @ 12:17 pm
i have a few friends who have read this book, but i refuse to pick it up. last week, when ordering some homeschooling books for my kids, i decided to buy “The Da Vinci Deception” (Ascension Press) also. written by the editors of Catholic Exchange Mark Shea and Edward Sri, the book debunks all the myths in Brown’s book.
from the publishers: “The Da Vinci Deception is a powerful antidote to the spiritual poison found in The DaVinci Code. This easy-to-read, question-and-answer book tackles the key errors in this devastating cultural phenomenon.”
Comment by milkphish — April 18, 2006 @ 12:24 am