Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of the 1982 nonfiction book “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail,” are suing publisher Random House, Inc. over the allegation that parts of their work formed the basis of Dan Brown’s novel, which has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and remains high on best seller lists nearly three years after publication.
I’m really baffled by how this is supposed to stand-up in court, but I haven’t read Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. It seems what happened is that Brown summarized the thesis of HBHG and proposed a counter-thesis within the framework of a fictional story. How is that a copyright violation?