The Lawsuit Over "The Da Vinci Code"

[Mariano Tomatis]

September 21, 2004 - Dan Brown, author of the mega-best selling "The Da Vinci Code," has had enough of another author's claims that Brown stole the plot of the religious thriller, and now he's striking back with a law suit -- but the target of his suit, author Lewis Perdue, says he knows why Brown is suing now, and that Hollywood's behind it.
Brown's book tells the story of a Harvard professor in Paris who solves a murder at the Louvre with clues from Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, by exposing evidence that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child.

Perdue, author of the lesser-known books, "Da Vinci Legacy" dnd "Daughter of God," has long accused Dan Brown of plagiarizing his earlier novels. Now Brown and his publisher, Random House, have sued Perdue, accusing him of "false claims" and "an escalating campaign" and "scheme" to "falsely link" "The Da Vinci Code" to Perdue's books.

"Without my writing, 'The Da Vinci Code' would never have existed," Perdue insisted to "CJ." "Their lawsuit is a gigantic pile of cow manure. It's more fictional than 'The Da Vinci Code.'"
Perdue showed us what he claims are striking similarities between his books and Dan Brown's book. Perdue's Web site also lists dozens of alleged similarities, including an expert's murder, a message in blood and an explosive secret that rocks the church.

"I'm disappointed, I'm angry, I'm really, really ready to go to court with this," Perdue told us.

Perdue says he tried to settle out of court peacefully, but Brown's suit says Perdue tried to extract a settlement and insists Brown never even read Perdue's books. Brown claims Perdue's Web sites are a press campaign to disseminate false claims in order to boost Perdue's sales and land a film deal, which Perdue says he has with "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett. "Mark knows everything that's been going on, he's been behind me one hundred percent," Perdue revealed.

"A Beautiful Mind" producer and director Ron Howard is part of the team now making "The Da Vinci Code" movie. Russell Crowe, George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Hugh Jackson have all been mentioned as possible leads -- and Perdue says that's the key to this case.

"I think that's the reason why this lawsuit was filed," Perdue explained. "They basically said 'fix this because you're screwing up my movie.'" But a spokesperson for Imagine Entertainment, the production company on "The Da Vinci Code" movie, says they're aware of the legal battle and it is not slowing progress on the movie in any way.

Lewis Perdue says he will file his own lawsuit soon.