Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Author Dan Brown copied the central themes of his thriller "The Da Vinci Code" from a 1982 book, an attorney for two of that book's three authors argued in a London courtroom Monday.

But an attorney representing Brown's publisher, Random House, dismissed the claims as "scandalous" and "wild allegations, completely unsupported by facts" on the opening day of a copyright infringement trial involving one of the best-selling novels of all time.

Well, at least Brown stole a great idea and made the most of it, if the allegations are true. It was a good book and I look forward to the movie. I know the Vatican is freaking out about the film, because the movie questions the pillars of the faith.

5 Comments:

Why should they "freak out" over a film created by a plagiarist? Who could trust anything he'd say about the Catholic church, anyway?
posted by Kurt W, at 2/28/2006 12:18 PM

I saw the trailers for Davinci Code at the movies yesterday--it looks like a really good movie; great cinematography. I read Holy Blood, Holy Grail when it first came out in the 80s and although it was facinating, I assumed it was mostly baloney. When the Dan Brown book came out i immediately assumed that he had gotten the ideas for his novel from this book. Maybe they have a right to sue him?! I dont know enough about it to make a judgement though.
Gary (NJ)
posted by Anonymous, at 2/28/2006 12:36 PM

I guess this is the same reason the Catholic Church is trying to get copyrights on all their books, since one has to make sure the message is controlled and the Word doesn't spread because it is universal.

I wonder, if religious writings are all inspired by God, then aren't they essentially all written by the same source? and, therefore, don't they all have the same author and copyright isn't being infringed? I guess they could sue for artistic copyright of using fonts and layout and pictures and such. I have heard God is color blind, so I would hope He uses professional artists when He decides to publish something.

And here I was thinking it was bad enough what with Allah not liking his pictures (I am thinking he wasn't photogenic or must think he looks too fat) but now it's seeming like it is just a bunch of tempermental gods running around Olympus backstabbing and bickering. I don't see Mary complaining about being on a tortilla.
posted by Steve Talbert, at 3/01/2006 7:44 AM

When will someone write a book, have readers read it, enjoy it and then be done with it.
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