Monday, January 15, 2007

Notes for the Lawyers on the DaVinci Code Trial

To: Jonathan Raynor James QC, Hogarth Chambers, London
Re: The Da Vinci Code Case

I'm no legal authority, but it strikes me that your case would obviously be stronger if your clients admitted the fact that their "nonfiction" conspiracy book, The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, is actually a delightful fiction and a hoax. Essentially, they are protesting that the brilliant and ingenious fiction they created and were forced to market as nonfiction should be recognized as fiction, and therefore, recognized as the source for Dan Brown's book The DaVinci Code, their book credited, and the authors paid off. But if they maintain their book is fact, then they may not win their case, because then Brown (I would hazard) was supposedly simply adapting it and creating a new work, as in the case of a historical novelist. Therefore, my suggestion is that the plaintiffs should have argued that The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail is, in fact, a novel.

1 Comments:

At 2:52 PM, Blogger booda baby said...

I've found Brits to be much more receptive to good advice than, say, your average American attorney. However, on this occasion, they disappointed.

They could've turned the whole thing around.

 

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