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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Apr 7th 2006 9:57am





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.

12 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  •  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Apr 7th, 2006 @ 10:13am

    first

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

  •  
    identicon
    jdw242, Apr 7th, 2006 @ 10:18am

    fines all around

    so, we can fine them for wasting our time keeping up with all the drivel from the 'case'?

    I bill at $150/hour.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

  •  
    identicon
    ZOMG CENSORED, Apr 7th, 2006 @ 11:40am

    At least...

    ...people are reading (poorly written excuses for) books again.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

  •  
    identicon
    Ben, Apr 7th, 2006 @ 12:35pm

    I wasn't shocked

    Who was seriously shocked at this outcome?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

  •  
    identicon
    JC, Apr 7th, 2006 @ 12:47pm

    Not our tax money

    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.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

  •  
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    Bob, Apr 7th, 2006 @ 12:55pm

    Huh?

    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.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

    •  
      identicon
      Jamie, Apr 7th, 2006 @ 1:12pm

      Re: Huh?

      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.

       

      [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

    •  
      icon
      Mike (profile), Apr 7th, 2006 @ 1:15pm

      Re: Huh?


      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.

       

      [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]

  •  
    identicon
    cntzero, Apr 7th, 2006 @ 1:14pm

    heh heh heh... he said "Shocker"..

     

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    identicon
    Jeff, Apr 8th, 2006 @ 6:26pm

    Also of interest

    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?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in chronology ]


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