Baigent claims moral victory in 'Da Vinci' case

Author Michael Baigent says he wasn't surprised by the defeat of his copyright case against writer Dan Brown.

In Toronto Friday to promote his new book, The Jesus Papers, the historian, who sued Brown over his bestseller The Da Vinci Code, claimed a moral victory in the case.

Baigent and fellow author Richard Leigh claimed Brown had stolen the ideas they put forward in their 1982 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. They also sued Random House, publisher of The Da Vinci Code.

Both books put forward the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married, had a child and their bloodline survives.

On Friday, a judge ruled that Brown did not infringe on copyright when he wrote The Da Vinci Code. The ideas Brown used were too general to be subject to copyright protection, the judge said.

But Baigent took hope from the judge's criticism of Brown's testimony.

"No writer is now going to take the work of another writer without  thinking twice, without at least contacting that writer," Baigent told CBC Radio. 

"Every point of copying we raised in the court, the judge agreed Dan Brown had taken from us. In fact, he said of Dan Brown that he didn't consciously lie. He was very tough on Dan Brown. So I think we've lost, by the law, but I think we've won the moral victory. That's good for us and for every other writer."

Baigent told CBC Radio he is considering an appeal. The London court case has increased interest in the earlier work he wrote with Leigh, he said.

It may have brought more recognition, but at high cost, as Baigent and Leigh have been ordered to pay 85 per cent of legal costs for Random House, a bill that could top $1.75 million US.

Holy Blood, Holy Grail, titled The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail in its British printing, is selling 7,000 copies a week in Britain, compared with a few hundred before the case began, according to publisher Random House.

The court case also gave a boost to The Da Vinci Code, which came out in paperback last week. It has already sold 40 million copies in hardcover and publishers are preparing another six million paperback copies to meet the brisk demand.

The theories that Baigent and Leigh advance in their popular history are very controversial, and have been dismissed by most theologians.

Baigent's new book, The Jesus Papers, promises to be just as controversial.

In The Jesus Papers, he advances the theory that either an impostor took Christ's place on the cross or that his followers removed him from the crucifixion site while he was still alive.

In an interview with CBC Radio, he said a group of Jesus' followers may have colluded to keep him alive.

"He was tied up on the cross, I don't think he would have been nailed," Baigent said. "There's a report in the Gospels where they put a sponge up to his face. The suggestion is that it contained an anesthetic, thus reducing the trauma. They take the body down from the cross and then, that night, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take him these medicinal spices, some of which would stop bleeding."

The theory is not new, but the freedom to explore it is new, said the New Zealand-born author.
 
Baigent said it has become more acceptable to challenge rigid doctrines of organized religion and he gives The Da Vinci Code part of the credit for encouraging this kind of questioning.

"I think 25 years ago when Holy Blood came out, historians particularly were a lot more afraid of rocking the boat," he said. "The world's changed, people are now open to new ideas."

Baigent said he's interested in resurrecting the historical figure of Jesus and exploring how Jesus' message of peace and love might apply outside the confines of religious dogma.

"I'm not trying to oppose faith," he said. "That's a very personal thing."