For those following the court case over The Da Vinci Code and alleged plagiarism from Holy Blood, Holy Grail, here’s a sampling of the stories covering the trial (roughly chronological):
- The case begins.
- Michael Baigent’s family talks to reporters while the man himself is grilled on the stand.
- Dan Brown’s witness statement (all 68 pages). I’ll have plenty more to say about this in another update.
- Dan Brown takes to the stand, and expresses his shock at being sued for plagiarism.
- Dan struggles to follow the arguments of Baigent and Leigh’s lawyer.
- Brown explains how his wife played a huge role in the writing of The Da Vinci Code.
- And also passes out the secrets to his novel-writing success.
- Questions arise as to why Brown’s copy of Holy Blood, Holy Grail is so damaged if he hardly used it as a source. In a further update, Brown disputes some evidence, due to British grammar being used in the document (which was supposedly written by his American wife).
- Baigent and Leigh’s lawyer – and the judge himself – question Brown’s ignorance of the primacy of Holy Blood, Holy Grail to ‘Jesus bloodline’ theories.
- Authors Baigent and Leigh were told by publishers: “Don’t be fools“. Also remarks that the case may be due to Baigent and Leigh’s desire to sell the film rights to their book.
- Brown admits that he used a number of ideas from Holy Blood, Holy Grail, but also used many other sources.
The case is expected to wrap up early next week, although the decision could take over a month to be handed down. Don’t forget to vote in our poll here on TDG!
