If you've read the Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, can you enlighten me on the reasons for their lawsuit?

[Pruni]

The one against Dan Brown's publishers. They're suing for plagiarism, aren't they? But I thought their book was a work of fact and scholarly study, PMSL... So how can they sue for plagiarism?

pruni have read both
they are very similar
holy blood is trying to find the facts on the holy grail, the bloodline of jesus and mary magdelene

when i read dan browns thought it was very similar to hbhg.
that similar i thought i was reading it apart from the fictional side iykwim

I wish I knew the ins and outs of why this is too Pruni (not having read the daft original) but assume it is because Brown presents as his characters' own their hilarious dingbat theories. Dh and I were too mesermised by their haircuts to take in much of what was being said. They could certainly give Sparks a run for their money on the hairdo front
I do think it is extra amusing that because of takeovers etc they are both now published by the same conglomerate

I just want to see the film so I wish they'd sort it out (nicely).

They have they same publishers though so no-one will really lose from this lawsuit.

the whole idea behind the fiction has been pinched
to be fair these authors have been researching this for many many years
and danbrown comes along pinches the main frame of book from them than makes it into best seller

co-incidences in both books are too unbelievable

But they are claiming that theirs is fact ie historical fact. You can't copywright history.

if it was fact they would have to produce evidence
is there any evidence that jesus married mary magdelene
and had a child

maybe in the dungeons of vatican city there may be a papyrus or scroll stating this but it has not been produced otherwise it would be catastrophic for the church iykwim

i still have the copy if anyone wants to borrow it

it's a bloody good point Pruni actually. I was saying just the same thing yesterday to anyone who would listen (no-one, in fact). They are claiming that he has based his book on their "ideas". That's not plagiarism. it's not any sort of intellectual property problem as far as I can see. It seems an entirely frivilous claim to me, and very dangerous if they succeed.

No, but they are claiming it is fact. Otherwise, what do they argue, "We've just made it up, a fanciful theory" Which it is but they are claiming it is more than that.

I read the Holy Blood Holy Grail thing in the 80s (I was young and foolish) and didn't it all turn out to be a hoax?

I cant remember what facts they had tinker
like harpschi I read it in the 80's

but dan browns is very similar to hbhg

My dh is an intellectual property lawyer. He says there is no merit in the lawsuit because there is no copyright in ideas. A plagiarism claim only holds water if Brown copied paragraphs of text from the previous work wholesale - which is not the case.

I think the reason for their lawsuit is the humungous amount of free publicity for both books. everybody wins, including the lawyers.

also, dan brown is v explicit in crediting holy blood holy grail with the ideas in da vinci code. also their sales have gone up loads.

we had the mail on sunday delivered to us by mistake yesterday (honest!) and there was a big thing in it about a coptic manuscript purporting to be the gospel of judas having been discovered...the national geographic magazine are publishing it on april 6th....

Tinker, that's my point exactly.
i have read both, as well.
I just can't see what they hope to do except point up that their book, too, is fiction!
BTW did anyone see the expose of THBATHG? I think it was one of those rare gems on Ch5. The guy whom they got their info from (now dead I think) had made it all up with his mates as a joke! All the documents he showed them were fake.
So they have this book which has been exposed as groundless, but they say it's a work of research, and yet now they want to sue for plagiarism when you can't plagiarise historical fact?
my mind boggles....

Ah, have read on and blueshoes explains all.

Also, why do this now and not when the novel came out - I mean, come on guys, too desperate! i suppose they're thinking "Bloody hell, we spent ages making that up... researching that, why does he get to be a bigger millionaire than us?"

can't say I care.....Da Vinci Code is one of the worst books I have ever read....talk about crap pulp fiction, I really struggled to get to the end!

Yes, saw taht Ch5 programme as well. Also, one of Dan Brown's character's names is and anagram of one of teh authors of HBHG

Oh I loved it! Utter crap and practically illiterate - v dodgy spelling/grammar and paper-thin characters. But having read THBATHG I felt I had to read on... Car-crash literature.

(Literature not being the right word but you know...)

pruni! you have read the Da Vinci Code!
what would Jonathan Coe have ot say about that??

Yes - I admit I heaved a sigh of relief when I found that that was the case, tinker - it had been bugging me since last summer that that character's name was just so off. Now I know why

HC Jonathan sleeps with a copy of the Da Vinci Code on the shelves by his bed.

ha! in your dreams pruni...

apparently one of the characters in the da vinci code's name (sense?) is an anagram of the authors of holy blood holy grail.