Lawyers challenge claims 'Da Vinci Code' story stolen

A historian who says the ideas for The Da Vinci Code were copied from his own book took the standfor the third day onThursday, as lawyers attempted to chip away at his claim.

Michael Baigent has already admitted under questioning to substantial differences between The Da Vinci Code, written by Dan Brown, and his own work, Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

"We were writing historical conjecture, and Mr. Brown was writing a novel," said Baigent, co-author of the non-fiction work Holy Blood, Holy Grail with Richard Leigh.

"One would expect their perspectives to be marginally different, if not substantially different."

Baigent and Leigh are suing Brown's publisher Random House in a London High Court forinfringing the copyright of their 1982 book.

In court documents, they claim that a synopsis Brown sent to publishers pitching his work contained key themes from their nonfiction book, presented in the same order.

Under cross-examination by Random House lawyer John Baldwin on Thursday, Baigentacknowledged the points were not in the same order.

However, he said, "our basic conclusion was the fundamental theme of The Da Vinci Code." Both books use the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had a child and their bloodline survives to this day.

Baldwin pushed Baigent to concede that many of the ideas and facts presented in Holy Blood Holy Grail do not turn up in Da Vinci Code.

The Da Vinci Code account of the founding of the medieval order of the Knights Templar is different from Baigent and Leigh's version, Baldwin argued. It contains an inaccurate date.

"My conclusion would be I've got no idea where Mr. Brown got his information from," Baigent said quoted by Associated Press. "He didn't get it from me."

But Baigent continued to insist there were substantial similarities between the books and that Brown took advantage of their research to write his bestseller.

"The Da Vinci Code uses the tips of the icebergs that were produced by the research that we did,"he said.

If the writers succeed in securing an injunction to bar the use of their material, they could hold up the scheduled May 19 release of The Da Vinci Code film starring Tom Hanks.

Random House lawyers argue that the ideas in dispute are so general they are not protected by copyright.

Leigh is scheduled to take the stand after Baigent, with Brown to follow on Friday or Monday.

British booksellers say the Leigh-Baigent book has seen a spike in sales since the case opened in British courts last week. The most recent version of the book, republished in 2005, is called The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail Illustrated Edition.

Brown's Da Vinci Code has sold 40 million copies worldwide.