‘Da Vinci Code’ movie gets a break

A London judge ruled today that author Dan Brown did not steal ideas for ‘The Da Vinci Code’ from Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of ‘Holy Blood, Holy Grail’. Had the judge ruled against Brown, it would have potentially stopped the release of the film version of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks on May 19. One lawyer close to the case said this:

“There is no copyright in ideas. It’s just about how words are expressed. If the verdict were in favor of the plaintiffs, the judge (would) have rewritten the law of copyright.”

In Browns defense, he did give full credit in ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to Baigent and Leigh. He mentioned their book several times and even named some of the characters after them. It’s not like how when ruckus.com steals content from this site, posts it almost word for word and pretends it’s their own. Clearly Brown was inspired by ‘Holy Blood’, but that doesn’t make him a criminal. Just like it didn’t make me a criminal when I started to do a Marlon Brando impression after seeing ‘the Godfather’. Although really, to do Brando, I just dig a grave and lie down. Really anyone could do it. Anyone with a shovel.


Source = Yahoo