Da Vinci Code a Holy Conspiracy

The Da Vinci Code is under fire. Not from Catholic secret society Opus Dei (though it is none too fond of the mega-selling book) but by the authors of another conspiratorial book about an alternative lineage of Jesus Christ.

Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of the 1982 nonfiction book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, are suing Random House over the allegation that parts of their work formed the basis of Dan Brown's novel, which has sold more than 40 million copies.

Both books are anchored by the theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and they had a child, and that bloodline survives to this day. Holy Blood, Holy Grail adds that Christ did not die on the cross but lived later in France, Both agree that there is a conspiracy to hid the bloodline. (Get many, many legal details here.)

There is indeed a conspiracy here, but it has little to do with the contents of the books. This story was picked up across the world. It was one of the lead items on the national newscast I watched, which devoted several minutes to it. High up in many of the pieces was something about how an injunction barring the use of their material could hold up the release of The Da Vinci Code film – May 19! Starring Tom Hanks! Don’t miss it!

So what did we get out of this? Two books, both published by Random House are in a legal battle. Sales of The Da Vinci Code are unlikely to rise much more, but there may be someone who hadn’t heard about it before. It is already working for Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which was up to number nine on Amazon.com's top sellers list as of Monday night, five slots below The Da Vinci Code, according to E Online!

And how much would it cost Sony to buy the amount of publicity this dispute is generating? I can’t prove any of this is true, but court costs would be a drop in the bucket of a blockbuster marketing campaign.