Shocker: Nothing Wrong With Doing A Bit Of Historical Research For A Novel
from the congrats-on-the-publicity dept
Back in February, there was a story about two publicity seeking authors who sued Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code for the horrible crime of doing some research for his novel. The pair of authors who were suing had written what was supposedly a non-fiction book (though, the work has been pretty thoroughly debunked), from which Brown took the basis of his plot for the fiction novel. For some reason, they thought this entitled them to payment. If they were really claiming their book was non-fiction, then this is problematic, because you can't copyright "facts." However, it became pretty clear that this was all just a publicity stunt for their book (whose sales have shot way up since the association between the two books was publicized). Either way, it appears that the judge in the case has recognized how pointless this all is and has thrown out the case. Of course, the timing of the case coming so close to the release of the movie based on the novel seems to add weight to the idea it was all a publicity stunt. Nice to know that the court systems are wasting plenty of time and taxpayer money to help boost book sales.
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by Anonymous Coward on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 10:13am
first
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fines all around by jdw242 on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 10:18am
so, we can fine them for wasting our time keeping up with all the drivel from the 'case'?
I bill at $150/hour.
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At least... by ZOMG CENSORED on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 11:40am
...people are reading (poorly written excuses for) books again.
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Re: fines all around by Ben on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 12:01pm
Would be nice if my taxes went to something productive...
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Re: At least... by Wolfger on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 12:15pm
Who has time to read? I listened to the book on CD.
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I wasn't shocked by Ben on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 12:35pm
Who was seriously shocked at this outcome?
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Not our tax money by JC on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 12:47pm
A claim that Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code copied the ideas of two other authors has gone before London's High Court.
At least this time it is not my tax dollar.
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Huh? by Bob on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 12:55pm
Mike, you wrote, "Either way, it appears that the judge in the case has recognized how pointless this all is and has thrown out the case."
But a couple lines later you write, "Nice to know that the court systems are wasting plenty of time and taxpayer money to help boost book sales."
Are you accusing the author or the court for wasting time and money? You said yourself that the judge saw the pointlessness of the case and threw it out. But then you blame the court in the last sentence.
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Re: Huh? by Jamie on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 1:12pm
He isn't "blaming" the court for the wasted time. Haven't you ever heard of sarcasm. He is stating that, yes the court did exactly correct in dissmissing the case, but the case should never have gotten to the court in the first place. So it is quite clear that the court's time and the taxpayers money was wasted on this.
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by cntzero on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 1:14pm
heh heh heh... he said "Shocker"..
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Re: Huh? by Mike on Apr 7th, 2006 @ 1:15pm
Are you accusing the author or the court for wasting time and money? You said yourself that the judge saw the pointlessness of the case and threw it out. But then you blame the court in the last sentence.
Blaming the authors for bringing the case and wasting the court's money (funded by taxpayers, of course). Sorry if the wording is unclear.
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Also of interest by Jeff on Apr 8th, 2006 @ 6:26pm
Is the fact that both books share the same publisher. Holy Blood is published by Random House under their Dell imprint. While Da Vinci Code is published by Random House under their Doubleday company.
Makes you wonder who was promoting whom with the movie coming out?
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