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Da Vinci Code was an original, says court


The author and publishers of "The Da Vinci Code" last week won a court ruling confirming that the runaway bestseller did not infringe the copyrights of earlier books published by rival author Lewis Perdue.

Perdue had contacted Dan Brown and his publisher Random House in 2003, the year that "The Da Vinci Code" was published. Perdue said it infringed his novels, “The Da Vinci Legacy” and "Daughter of God," published in 1983 and 2000 respectively.

In the end, Perdue did not pursue his case over “The Da Vinci Legacy”, but based his infringement claims largely on “Daughter of God.”

This novel tells the tale of a fictional Fourth Century female Messiah and the shroud that wrapped her body – secrets that various modern day parties, including the Russian mafia and ambitious Vatican officials, are keen to use to their advantage.

Key to the novel is Perdue’s discussion of the divine feminine, and the Church’s role in ensuring a male, rather than female dominated religion. These themes are also present in “The Da Vinci Code”.

Brown’s novel concerns a secret society, a search for the Holy Grail and the revelations that Mary Magdalene married Jesus, bore his child and was his preferred successor. Again the Church is depicted as trying to keep the facts hidden.

In a pre-emptive strike, Brown and his publishing company filed an action with the District Court for the Southern District of New York in September last year, asking the court to declare that “The Da Vinci Code” did not infringe on Perdue’s copyright.

Perdue counterclaimed for $150 million in damages.

In a ruling issued on Thursday, Judge George Daniels found that there had been no infringement.

Applying a test of “substantial similarity”, the Judge examined the plot, characters and themes of both books. There were similarities, he said, but all of them "are unprotectible ideas, historical facts and general themes that do not represent any original elements of Perdue’s work.”

He added: "copyright protection does not extend to thematic concepts or scenes which must necessarily follow from similar plot situations."

Judge Daniels concluded: “A reasonable average lay observer would not conclude that 'The Da Vinci Code' is substantially similar to 'Daughter of God'. Any slightly similar elements are on the level of generalised or otherwise unprotectible ideas.”

According to the BBC, Lewis Perdue will appeal.

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