the cup, or chalice, used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper - was a popular theme in medieval tales of chivalry and has inspired countless writers, film-makers and historians through the ages.) The core of the authors’ hypothesis in The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail was that references to the Grail in early manuscripts were disguised references not to the chalice, but rather to holy blood or Sang real, i.e. (The theme of the quest for the lost Grail - i.e. Baigent and Leigh claimed that The Da Vinci Code was an infringement of their copyright in their book.Īt the center of the dispute was a ‘hypothesis’ presented in The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail concerning the early Christian legend of the holy Grail. The case against the publishers of The Da Vinci Code was brought by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, the authors of a non-fiction work, The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, which was first published in 1982. Suthersanen is Chair of the British Literary & Artistic Copyright Association (ALAI-UK), and sits on the Legal Advisory Board of Creative Commons (England & Wales). Uma Suthersanen of the Intellectual Property Law & Policy department of Queen Mary, University of London.

The following account of the case was written for WIPO Magazine by Dr. In question was Dan Brown’s worldwide best-seller, This was at the fore of a high profile court case in the United Kingdom (U.K.) in April. (Courtesy of Random House UK)Ī central principle of copyright is that it protects the expression of ideas and not the ideas themselves.

The Da Vinci Code is still topping sales charts, while The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail has climbed to the U.K. Copyright in the Courts: The Da Vinci Code

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