People in the News

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,” sued Random House, which also published their book. Random House denies the claim.

Baigent and Leigh claim Brown appropriated their ideas and themes in writing his book, which has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide since its 2003 publication.

Jonathan Rayner James, a lawyer for Baigent and Leigh, said the case did not relate to the theft of specific parts of text but to the appropriation of themes and ideas.

"Brown copied from ’The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail’ and therefore the publication of the resulting novel is an infringement of my clients’ copyright,” he told the court.

James said his case was not an attempt to "stultify creative endeavor” or claim a monopoly on ideas or historical debate.

Jonathan Baldwin, representing Random House, said Baigent and Leigh were making "wild allegations.”

He said they were suggesting that "Mr. Brown has appropriated not only the numerous parts of a jigsaw puzzle but the organizational way (Baigent and Leigh) put it together.”

"In brief, the complaint appears to be that ’The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail’ discloses the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, that they had children which survived and married into a line of French kings, that the lineage continues today, and that there is a secret society based in France which has the objective of restoring this lineage to the thrones not only of France but to the thrones of other European nations as well, and that (’The Da Vinci Code’) uses some of this idea,” Baldwin said.

He said Brown referred to "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” in his novel, but the earlier book "did not have anything like the importance to Mr. Brown which the claimants contend it had.”

The case is being heard in the Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand, a short walk from the Temple Church, which figures in Brown’s book. The church, founded by the Knights Templars, has reported an increase in visitor traffic inspired by "The Da Vinci Code.”

Brown has been sued before. In 2005, a U.S. judge in New York ruled that his book did not infringe on the copyrights of "Daughter of God,” by Lewis Perdue. The judge also ruled out any copyright violations of Perdue’s 1983 novel "The Da Vinci Legacy.”<