More Court Chatter

Reserved seating has come to the British courts. This trial is that popular.

Here's a roundup of the best tidbits from the last two days:

• Patrick Janson-Smith, formerly publisher both to Brown and litigants Baigent & Leigh, said in a prepared witness statement, "I didn't think Baigent and Leigh had a leg to stand on and that they were in danger of making fools of themselves... I thought the legal case was all a storm in a teacup. ... They were most especially concerned that a film of The Da Vinci Code would jeopardise the chances of a film of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail ever being made." (Mike Collett-White, Reuters)
• "I'm not crazy about the word 'copied,'" said Brown in his own testimony. "Copying implies it is identical. It's not identical. ... "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" was "one of the books in the mix" when he and his wife, Blythe Brown, were researching the novel. He acknowledged "reworking" passages from the earlier book. "That's how you incorporate research into a novel," Brown said. (Jill Lawless, AP)
• More from Janson-Smith's witness statement: "I saw the bloodlines of Christ and the obvious jokes of using character names like Saunière and Sir Leigh Teabing. My first thought was that this was an homage to the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. I assumed that because of the Sir Leigh Teabing character it was likely that Mr Brown had at some point been in correspondence with the authors or, if not, that it was simply his nod of respect to them. I never thought to raise any concerns about plagiarism. In my experience it is very rare to need to seek legal advice after reading a book. While I saw similarities between The Da Vinci Code and The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail I never thought there was a copying issue to deal with. Why would I?” (The Book Standard)

Various Sources, 14.03.06-15.03.06