Dan Brown & Da Vinci Code Has Won
Posted on April 7, 2006
Filed Under Bestsellers, Books, Publishing
The lawsuit is over and Judge Peter Smith ruled in Dan Brown’s favor saying:
“It would be quite wrong if fictional writers were to have their writings pored over in the way DVC (`Da Vinci Code’) has been pored over in this case by authors of pretend historical books to make an allegation of infringement of copyright.”
Authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh sued Random House, the publisher of Da Vinci Code and who also looks to be the biggest winner in all this. You see Random House is the publisher for DVC and The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, both of which has been selling strong since the lawsuit.
Allan Adler, Vice President of Association of American Publishers also says,
“Cases like this hopefully will clarify what copyright is all about. Copyright doesn’t protect ideas and copyright doesn’t protect facts. That’s why we have genres, fiction and nonfiction, and a number of people can write novels based on the same idea and still have freedom of expression.”
Authors Baigent and Leigh who initiated this lawsuit two years ago have spent almost $3.5 million for their legal fees and Random House’s, plus they now need to pay another $600,000 before May 5 and one or both might have to sell their homes to accomplish that.
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