Going through the courts here in the UK at the moment is a case brought about by two of the authors of a book called "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" against Random House and, more specifically, Dan Brown. The argument is that Brown's book, The Da Vinci Code, extrapolated ideas central to their book and so (I guess) infringed their Intellectual Property rights and copyright. More over they state that they were not credited (not even in the bibliography Brown used to cite his source materials).
(As a side note here at the beginning of each book I have noticed that there is a little catch all section that now states that the author is asserting their moral rights to be associated with the work and ideas contained within. How much bearing this has on a book that was published in the mid 1980's I am not sure.)
Would the authors of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" have brought this case to court if Dan Brown 's book had not been so phenominally successful? It seems unlikely. The central themes to both books have been explored by many people over the years and, if I were feeling somewhat pedantic, I would point out that similar themes were explored by Nikos Kazantzakis and Paul Schrader in Martin Scorseses' "The Last Temptation of Christ" (incidentally, the book the film based on was published more than 50 years ago). Grail hunters themselves have had similar theories for countless years - the hunt for the Grail has fascinated people since even before the Crusades and there is a certain degree of romanticism attached to it. Poets and novelists, painters and playwrights have all used this material in some form or another to base a work off. So why Dan Brown, I ask. Perhaps this is something of a double edged sword for the authors?
The publicity that their book has received has certainly done sales no harm. Amazon reported a healthy rise in orders for it and I am sure other retailers too. The exposure is publicity you couldn't buy. It won't have done Dan Brown any harm either as I am sure his books too have benefited. The reported £50 million he has generated might also have some attraction as would the upcoming film and the royalties that will generate...
Personally I find it incredibly irritating. The success of 'The Da Vinci Code' was always going to attract someone, somewhere to do something like this. Let's face it - it's not even a particularly well written book; certainly not very good as a thriller (obvious plot devices, the dashing round solving relatively simple clues that even Scooby Doo could have a fair crack at) combined with people thinking it is based on solid fact rather than a lot of conjecture (hang your heads in shame people who have taken the 'Da Vinci Code Trail' tours). I described this book to Sally onces as 'A Housewive's Choice' and by that I meant that is was in small, easily digestable chapters and that it could be put down and picked up by busy housewive's without actually being a challenging read.
Still I bet Random House and the Hollywood studio (Sony, I think) that is producing the film are rubbing their hands with glee!
Posted by AlexC at March 14, 2006 06:07 PM