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Dan Brown wins copyright case

Hasan Suroor

Author says the case was "without merit''

— PHOTO: AP

Dan Brown on his way to the court in London, in this February 28, 2006, file photo.

LONDON: It was hailed as Dan Brown's day at the London High Court on Friday as he won a bitter legal battle over claims that he had copied the idea for his international best-seller The Da Vinci Code from another work which explored the same theme.

The court ruled that Mr. Brown was not in breach of copyright though it noted that he did lift some material from The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, whose authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh had sued him and his publishers, Random House. Ironically, Random House also published their own book in 1982.

Mr. Baigent and Mr. Leigh had accused Mr. Brown of copying the "complete architecture'' of The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail.

"Fanciful accusation"

Both books deal with the central idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married, had a child and the bloodline, protected by a secret society, survives till this day.

In his testimony, Mr. Brown dismissed the accusations as "completely fanciful'' and said that the HBHG was one of the many works that he and his wife Blythe consulted while researching for The Da Vinci Code.

He claimed that he was not even aware of the existence of HBHG at the time he submitted the synopsis of The Da Vinci Code. He said he read it later.

"For them to suggest, as I understand that they do, that I have `hijacked and exploited' their work is simply untrue,'' he told the court. The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 40 million copies around the world, was adjudged the best book at last year's British Book Awards and is now the subject of a forthcoming Hollywood film starring Tom Hanks.

Mr. Brown welcomed the ruling saying the case was "utterly without merit''.

He said he was astonished that Mr. Baigent and Mr. Leigh brought the case at all.

The trial, which had attracted huge media attention, was seen as a test case as to how far writers could use an idea to create a new work without being accused of plagiarism. The ruling was widely hailed as important for the future of creative writing.

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