A British court has ruled in favor of Dan Brown, the author of the best selling novel, 'The Da Vinci Code,' ruling that Brown did not steal the central ideas for his novel from a work on non-fiction published in 1982.
Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent, two of the authors of the scholarly book, 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,' had sued Brown. They claimed that Brown had taken the idea of Jesus marrying and having children with former prostitute Mary Magdalene was taken from their book.
Brown had admitted that he used 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' as a source when researching his idea for 'The Da Vinci Code' although he said it was a minor source. He also explained that he had the basic idea for the plot of his book before the non-fiction work was published.
Lawyers for Leigh and Baigent said that Brown had 'lifted the architecture' of their work, contentions which Brown felt were 'absurd.' Many publishers and authors were concerned that severe limitations would be placed on fiction writers if Leigh and Baigent had won their lawsuit. For now, Random House, which published 'The Da Vinci Code' and other publishers can rest easy. Brown also won a similar lawsuit against him in the United States.
The film version of 'The Da Vinci Code,' starring Tom Hanks, is due in theaters in May.
