Baigent and Leigh’s non-fiction bestseller was published in
1982. In this the two men, together with a third author, Henry
Lincoln, who is not involved in the proceedings, set out a
hypothesis in which Jesus and Mary Magdalene are supposed to have
married and had a child.
According to The Holy Blood, their descendants are still alive
today and the Catholic Church has tried hard to keep the matter
secret.
On the other hand, The Da Vinci Code, written by Dan
Brown, concerns a secret society, a search for the Holy Grail and
the revelations that Mary Magdalene married Jesus, bore his child
and was his preferred successor. Again the Church is depicted as
trying to keep the facts hidden.
The two authors are suing publishers Random House, which
publishes both The Da Vinci Code and, ironically, The
Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, for breach of copyright. Dan
Brown is not being sued, but is expected to give evidence.
The hearing is expected to last two weeks. Reports suggest that
if successful the suit may result in a delay in the UK release of
the film version of The Da Vinci Code, starring Tom
Hanks.
The dispute is not the first to erupt over the controversial
bestseller. In August Brown and Random House won a copyright suit
brought by rival author Lewis Perdue, who claimed that the book
infringed on his novel Daughter of God, published in
2000.
That novel tells the tale of a fictional Fourth Century female
Messiah and the shroud that wrapped her body – secrets that various
modern day parties, including the Russian mafia and ambitious
Vatican officials, are keen to use to their advantage.
Key to the novel is Perdue’s discussion of the divine feminine,
and the Church’s role in ensuring a male, rather than female
dominated religion. These themes are also present in The Da
Vinci Code.
Judge George Daniels found that there had been no infringement,
explaining that "copyright protection does not extend to thematic
concepts or scenes which must necessarily follow from similar plot
situations."
