What’s this, then?
Da Vinci Crock __ Author Lewis Perdue has been in the midst of a legal battle over alleged plagiarism and the best-selling DaVinci Code. You have to read all of this material to appreciate the problem. The problem is that the DaVinci Code has sold an ungodly number of books and nobody would ever want to admit that the material was lifted from another book, if it indeed was lifted. In this case Perdue says it was lifted from his book, the DaVinci Legacy. I’m actually surprised that the bloggers haven’t gotten on this one since Perdue’s story is compelling. He’s the guy who is responsible for the notion that red wine makes the French live longer. That was another book.
I’ve known Perdue for quite sometime and he is an honest man. This situation is baffling since most of these cases are settled fast, usually with a simple fee schedule whereby the lifted passages are each worth so much money. Unfortunately when the book becomes such a monster hit and millions and millions of dollars are involved (and movie rights) the process gets complicated and it is apparently cheaper to fight it. Read Perdue’s tale for yourself and you decide. The link here — the DaVinci Crock — is a new blog, but there is plenty of material on his homepage and his Davinci page too.
Sometimes the most important things are those that are not there. Such as an affidavit from Dan Brown attesting that he conducted the “extensive research” he claims and that he actually wrote The Da Vinci Code.
In both their previous filings, Random House has repeatedly cited the extensive research that Dan Brown allegedly conducted for The Da Vinci Code as evidence that he didn’t need to plagiarize me.
Take, for example, the bottom of Page two of this filing which says, “The factual foundation to Da Vinci Code — from which the fictional novel emerges — is based on extensive interviews and research that Brown had conducted….”
Nobody in the mainstream media wants to touch this story, by the way.
Thanks John!
I, too, am puzzled by the lack of interest by bloggers. I’ve done a lot of thinking about that and come to the conclusion that it’s because the issues are big and complicated and the legal filings long, involved and dense.
That’s why I started the Da Vinci Crock blog — intending to break things down into bite-sized pieces and illustrate the weasle-wording from Random House which simply will not deal with the issues and which does not want this case to — cannot afford to have this case — go to trial.
Right now, I am simply fighting for my chance to be heard in court.
And we should never forget that THEY filed against me first: Their legal filing was a request to have the judge order me to shut up and stop talking about the plagiarism.
Yep — their initial filing was for a gag order.
But that’s what happens whern the largest publisher in the world musters its massive corporate legal clout.
Thanks for your support.
Lewis
“I’m actually surprised that the bloggers haven’t gotten on this one since Perdue’s story is compelling.”
Well, it requires reading “The Da Vinci Code”, “Daughter of God”, “The Linz Testament” and the “The Da Vinci Legacy (1983 version)” and a lot of legal filings to properly assess the case.
Perhaps, Vanessa, but bloggers are just as lazy as their print and electronic media counterparts – they rarely do their own research and instead filter the research of others.
I haven’t read “The Da Vinci Legacy” (or, for that matter, “The Da Vinci Code”) so I won’t comment on the merits of the case at hand.
I hadn’t even heard of the DaVinci Legacy, but read and loved the Da Vinci Code. I will be picking Legacy up now that I’ve heard of it.
Chris – Bloggers may “filter the research of others”, but they also do not make megalomillions from the sale of their articles either. At least most don’t.
theMike,
If you are going to read the Da Vinci Legacy to compare with the DVC, then get the 1983 version as it is one of the books involved in the dispute. The author re-wrote the book in 2004 and the story is obviously different.
I read the DaVinci Code and think this is a very interesting legal battle, especially since the media hasn’t latched on to it. I’m going to reserve any real comments on it though till I read Da Vinci Legacy.
Thanks for the information and links though. Hopefully bloggers will pick this story up.
You know, asking where the bloggers are and why they haven’t posted about your topic is a bit off-putting. We blog about what interests us. If this doesn’t interest us, we don’t blog about it. There are MILLIONS of bloggers – don’t lump us all together.
Bloggers aren’t the panacea for today’s media bias.
I can name dozens of top bloggers who do claim that bloggers are the panacea to today’;s media bias. I just see no evidence of it unless it’s purely political and the bloggers seem to be even more biased in that regard.
I chide; I chide!
I thought that the The Da Vinci Legacy was rewritten instead of being updated for a few reasons.
I applogize for the misunderstanding.
By the way, I am not affiliated with any organization.
I think the lack of interest comes from the fact that everyone is focused on the inaccuracies of The Da Vinci Code.
There’s a reprint of a good review (by an historian) on my blog.
http://toledotastic.blogspot.com/2005/07/da-vinci-code.html
I am a grad studies, cartography major and find any information on Da Vinci’s mapping truly fascinating and would appreciate any input from fellow map lovers.
I am an English teacher who on her breaks likes to read “beach books” such as The Da Vinci Code, which I enjoyed during a cruise. A librarian friend suggested recently that I read The Da Vinci Legacy and Daughter of God to take a look at what she felt proved “Brown’s plagiarism, pure and simple.” Having read them, I tend to agree. However, because Dan Brown does not appear to have the requisite level of scholarly background, I suspect his book is based as much on a reading of Holy Blood, Holy Grail as on Lewis Purdue’s novels.
However, as someone who loves to read, what I found equally troubling were the gross mistakes in or lack of editing in the recently republished Legacy. These include a character who is supposed to be 73 remembering his father in 1916, a woman who appears to be middle aged and working recalling her first encounter with Americans during World War II, and a relatively young character having received his training during the Cold War. These would have been believable in a novel published in the mid 1980’s, but in a novel updated for current readers to include references to Sept. 11, the first war in Iraq, and payment in Euros, inconsistencies such as these certainly disturb one’s suspension of disbelief.
I am currently reading the non-fiction but speculative Holy Blood, Holy Grail which I highly recommend to anyone interested in the theories behind The Da Vinci Code. It’s actually a better read than any of the novels.
The plagiarism battle aside, consider the benefits of The Da Vinci Code to the authors of The Da Vinci Legacy, Daughter of God and Holy Blood, Holy Grail. By means of the astronomical value of the free publicity generated by the court battles, astronomical interest has been sparked in these titles following a similar theme. My interest in this topic has been sparked and, along with countless others, I intend to purchase the books. Keeping the controversy alive makes good public relations and profit-based sense. As I see it, all of the authors and publishers are benefitting.
I feel very sorry for Lewis Perdue as he must really believe that his work has been copied and that feeling must rankle. However, I have been on his davincicrock site and when you read the actual similarities charted by John Ohlsson (comparing all the characters, and the plot line) you do realise that there are similarities with 1000s of books.
I have read many stories where the hero is a v. attractive 40’s figure (who doesn’t like blue eyes?), who is not only athletic, but really, really smart. The heroine is in her 30’s to be taken seriously as a brain, but really attractive with it. This is just appealing to the masses.
‘Shapeshifters’ appear in many thrillers to keep the reader and the characters on edge. Also, it is quite common for heroes to be initially cast as the murderer or guilty party to ensure that they have to fight not only the baddies but the goodies too (no one to turn to and all that). One example that springs to mind immediately is the old book ‘A matter of honour’ by Jeffrey Archer as I read it recently but I know I’ve seen this plot line in many books.
Since most of the supporting theory for both stories appear in art, and both feature da Vinci heavily, isn’t it just logical that they would both include art galleries which have da Vinci works?
I haven’t read legacy (will do when I get a copy) but did really enjoy code when I read it over 6 months ago. I loved the premise of the lost sacred feminine, but t hasn’t exactly changed my outlook on life, so I consider it as just good fiction.
Interestingly, I read ‘Angels & Demons’ first, and really loved it, which is what drew me to Code. I also loved Deception Point. Because all 3 stories use similar pacing and cliff hangers, Shapeshifters, etc I really believe that DB has taken ideas from many sources but crafted a uniquely DB novel in Code. This shouldn’t be illegal and he shouldn’t be punished. If Code was his only novel I might be more inclined to think it was plagiarised, but the others support his style and creative plots.
I did wonder how he could be so certain that all the rituals were genuine as I was married to a mason who told me less than nothing about what went on, so I took it for granted that they might not be exactly right and that there would be a lot of artistic license in the book.
Having been through Perdue’s blog, it troubles me that he keeps referring to inaccuracies by RH and how they refuse to answer his charges but doesn’t put succintly what the main points are (he refers you to endless .pdf files of the case). I read their initial response letter to his letter, and far from finding it a nasty backlash I thought it was well laid out and to the point. They clearly stated that they were prepared to defend the case sure enough, but I thought it quite politely explained why the books might have similarities and highlighted huge differences in the plot.
I would have left it there.
The Da Vinch Code is a start in the right direction. The book/movie does not drop the real bomb!
The myth creators on Egypt and Judea were the developors of the stories that came before the Jesus Mary story.
Research the Osiris and Isis story which orignated long before Jesus and Mary and you will see that these stories were created as teaching tools for those seeking to become one with the Light.
The Romans were not smart enough to realiize that they were set up by the Gnostics.
Earth is a Cosmic University Lab and all the distortions-teachings were created to confuse humans.
Distortion create the conflicts that we have been experiencing for many years and continue to experience.
The Ancient Egyptians must be having a good laugh at the Roman Church.
Does anyone know what Dan Brown based his research for the book?
This entire “theory” is something incrediblly interesting for us in Europe.
The aristocracy is involved and of course the clergy. Two big institutions on the old continent. The aristocracy might no longer be in power in France but it is still very elitist and respected.
A group of us have been doing some research of our own lately…We have come up with something extremely intriguing: There is a family Saint-Clair in France. A large branch. Under aristocracy rules, aristocrats do not only have one last name. The bigger the family the more complex the last name.
My group and I have been, “warned” lately very kindly, that we should really give up this silly research. However we were able to find out that the Saint-Clair have several descendants. Yes they are directly attached to the Kings of France (Saint-Clair, Saint-Greal-Sang real…Royal Blood?). A large part of the family lives all around the louvre. Many of them, live in geographical positions around the louvre that would take the shape of one of the famous symbols of the Freemasons (two open triangles, one upside down one in the upright position). The freemasons and the Knight templars, are closely related to each other.
It has also come to our attention that some of their descendants, live in Southern California and goes by the name of K. Delancy. The other ones in two different places in Asia. The rest of the descendance , all over Europe.
They have several of their extended family and friends belonging to Freemasonry. And other relatives belonging to Opus Dei.
Over and over we have been told to drop the research….But there has always been a theory indeed that Dan Brown’s fiction “could” be true and that given that the Knight Templars were created by the French, the descendance is in France.
We are researching futher. However if anybody can tell me what Mr Brown based his research on I would be very interested.
Thank you
i would just like to agree with Kate on the point that I heard vaguely that there was a plaigiarsm charge against the Da Vinci Code but only recently decided to find out about it, shortly after reading the Double Eagle by James Twining (those who enjoyed the DVC i would say you would also enjoy this book). I chose to research it because the presence of a kindly older man who is educated and close to the hero of the story also makes an appearance as the ultimate baddie similarly to Mr Lea Teabing in The Code thus reinforcing that stories really do have extraordinarily similar storylines sometimes but that does not always equal plagiarism. However i reserve judgement on this particular one until i have read the Legacy.The pace and storyline of the Code does also bear a strong structural resemblance to Deception Point and Digital Fortress and this again serves to convince me that DB did infact write this novel off his own back. I would be very interested to find out about The Bloodline if anyone else finds any more evidence of its existance, i find it very difficult to believe that a (Jewish) man like Jesus did not have a wife at that particular time or that the Bible is entirely accurate of all the original teachings.
Aside from all controversy i think this is a fantastic fictional novel and had got people thinking of how much is, in fact, fiction and how much fact!
Thank you
Were movie and novel, which good? As for me, a novel was better.
has anyone else asked this question? So what if Teabring and his ilk found the remains of Mary Magdela – DNA testing would prove ONLY that Mary Magdela still had decendants living today – this would still NOT prove that they are also Jesus’s decendants. After seeing the movie, this rather obvious question was never addressed – it was as if proof of Mary’s kin was automatically proof of Jesus’s kin – can anyone comment on this?