DaVinci Code shelved?
 

Heard on MSNBC that the author of The DaVinci Code has lost a plagerism lawsuit brought against him by the author of an earlier book, The Holy Grail. If the court imposes an injunction the movie may get shelved until all the legal issues are straightened out.

whoops! may be the most anticipated movie of 2009!

According to MSNBC the suit was just filed against Random House, Brown's publisher. The story can be found here.

Since this case is only active in a British court, the only thing that could happen is the release could be delayed in Great Britain because of an injunction.

Did anyone read Holy Grail, Holy Blood? I am curious to see if Brown actually plagerized, or if some lawyers are just trying to make some money.

I guess Brown paid homage to the earlier work by using parts of the authors' names in one of the character's names (so the story goes).

Depends on your definition of plagiarism. But Brown basically appropriated his ideas from Holy Blood, Holy Grail wholesale. I'm amazed that it took this long for someone to make a legal stink about it.

amateur artists borrow ideas, professional artists steal them

Well, to be fair, the theories in Holy Blood, Holy Grail can be traced back several centuries, so it's not as if the authors wove it from whole cloth.

that's what tonight's NBC Nightly News hinted at, as being a possible outcome.

i thought HG HB was a theory on what the grail is, and da vinci code was fiction using that theory?

Pretty much, but according to the authors, Dan Brown stole their "research" when he wrote The DaVinci Code.

Why wait 'til now to bring legal preceedings? The book, which has not seen and probably never will see a paperback version (it's sells a shitload), has to be making millions, OR *places tinfoil hat on securely* it's just some sort of timely marketing ploy.

It's all about the shake-down, and the film has a lot more to lose if it can't be released in the slotted theatrical opening date.

DaVinci Code Paperback is coming in MARCH, as a movie tie in. I think this whole lawsuit is just to drum up some free publicity. The authors in question probably have a new similarly themed book coming down the pike... In reading the book, I never thought Brown claimed the ideas as his own, he just worked them into a story. I also thought somewhere he did give credit to HGHB, so I really don't see what this is all about. Another frivolous lawsuit, like those folk singing bitches who tried to sue Warner over Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, trying to get it shelved in Canada over a complete non-issue... Code will open EVERYWHERE on it's scheduled date in May.

MATT

If I'm not mistaken, the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail is actually mentioned in The Da Vinci Code.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I expect we;ll see an out of court settlement for terms that will never be divulged.

The fascination with <i>DaVinci Code</i> is precisely <i>because</i> it blends lots of facts into a fictional setting, creating possibilities that have the ring of truth even though they are fictional. The fact that the suit is only now being brought smacks of a money grab - it's not as if this book was a low-profile secret.

The Da Vinci Code already released the paperback version. I have a paperback version in my room right now two feet away from me.

Where did you get it? Because it's not even listed at Amazon. Are you sure it isn't Angels and Demons?

Dude, it's two feet away from him! Two feet!

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9...perback8mv.jpg



Your comment is kinda rude. I wasn't intending to brag, I was just stating a fact.

Where did you get it?

I just ordered it from www.qpb.com. I buy many of my books from them.

From the Yahoo article I read yesterday, some of the ideas supposedly stolen from Holy Blood, Holy Grail were the same ideas I read in the Illuminatus Trilogy a decade before HBHG was published.

Well, the idea that the Grail was actually the child of Christ, born of Mary Magdalen can be traced back to the Cathars and 13th century France, if not earlier.

I haven't read Holy Blood, Holy Grail in a very long time, but from what I remember, a great deal of it was simply reporting theories that had been around for a long time.

Yet I can also remember thinking when I first heard about The Da Vinci Code that this guy had basically ripped off Holy Blood, Holy Grail, because the similarities were too remarkable to be coincidental.

None of this is to argue that Holy Blood, Holy Grail contains facts, because it doesn't. It only contains factual reports of what people have believed--nothing more.

Okay, that makes sense. They release several books in paperback while they are still in hardcover. But it's not the same thing as the paperback version being "out" (you can't go into any store and get it, or order through Amazon).

Ok, I'll correct myself. Davinci Code will not be released in MASS MARKET PAPERBACK until mid March.

MATT

It's been out for nearly two years in the UK (and elsewhere, I think). It was delayed in north america because the hardback was selling so well. I learned this last summer because I was the last person in the country to read it and finally decided to cave in, so I went looking for the paperback.

Is'nt this movie being pushed by liberal Hollywood in hope as a counter attack againest THE PASSION's succsess 2 years ago?

I honestly can't tell if you are being serious or facetious.

I haven't read any of the books mentioned but they sound alot like a 1970s TV Mini-Series called The Word , starring David Jansenn. Had something to do with the discovery of an ancient manuscript/gospel that accounted the life of Jesus after the crucifixtion and attempts to verify it's authenticity and how to handle the reaction if it ever became public. It's been almost 30 years since I saw it. I believe Jansenn's character was hired by the Vatican to handle both the verification and the public relations of it's existence to the masses. I believe it was based on a bestselling novel of the time.

If they are going after DaVinci Code for using the Mary Magdalene/Jesus theory, why not Dogma, which used the exact same theory as the basis for its plot?

Or maybe it's being shelved because they're afraid that millions and millions of Christians will take to the streets and demand the heads of the film's makers.

All of these references in this thread to other books, movies, etc. that are similar to Davinci Code prove the point that this is a frivolous lawsuit. There are practically no original ideas left in the world. Nearly every book and every movie borrows from a previous idea.

Lawsuits suck. Stop suing everyone over everything. There is a clip on the radio about an inmate who is suing the prison for $75 million dollars because they cut his hair in a way he didnt want.

I think he's serious.

Then he's crazier than the people who liked this book :)

I read the book, and no where within does a man get beat for two hours.

This book is more of a chase scene than anything else.

It's not frivolous in regards to the Priory of Sion connection (scam i.e. Pierre Plantard) which Brown apparently bought hook, line and sinker, and was the key to Lincoln, Bagent, and Leigh's reworking of the theory

It's wm lopez. You're better off ignoring him/her, trust me.

I could be wrong, but that doesn't sound very Christian.

Hmmm, what an odd lawsuit. I would have to go with the "money grab" theory. The book was a decent bit of fiction, and those parts couldn't really be plagarized, and the rest is based around conspiracy theories that go back centuries. I am guessing the green eyed monster had something to do with it since DaVinci sold so darn well.