Review of “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” on the Internet – Read the review, then copy / paste the review in your Question 1 answer. Make sure you include the Website details of the Editorial Review.
A1: Michael Baigent, Henry Lincoln, and Richard Leigh, authors of The Messianic Legacy, spent over 10 years on their own kind of quest for the Holy Grail, into the secretive history of early France. What they found, researched with the tenacity and attention to detail that befits any great quest, is a tangled and intricate story of politics and faith that reads like a mystery novel. It is the story of the Knights Templar, and a behind-the-scenes society called the Prieure de Sion, and its involvement in reinstating descendants of the Merovingian bloodline into political power. Why? The authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail assert that their explorations into early history ultimately reveal that Jesus may not have died on the cross, but lived to marry and father children whose bloodline continues today. The authors' point here is not to compromise or to demean Jesus, but to offer another, more complete perspective of Jesus as God's incarnation in man. The power of this secret, which has been carefully guarded for hundreds of years, has sparked much controversy. For all the sensationalism and hoopla surrounding Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the alternate history that it outlines, the authors are careful to keep their perspective and sense of skepticism alive in its pages, explaining carefully and clearly how they came to draw such combustible conclusions. --Jodie Buller
Review by Amazon.com address http://astore.amazon.com/gp/detail.html?tag=awardrointime00&linkCode=sb1&asin=0440136482
Q2: Background Information - “The Da Vinci Code”: Find an Editorial Review of “The Da Vinci Code” on the Internet – Read the review, then copy / paste the review in your Question 2 answer. Make sure you include the Website details of the Editorial Review.
A2: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is in Paris attending a conference. Late in the night, he is rudely woken up by the hotel management and is taken to a murder scene. The curator of Paris's most famous museum, The Louvre, is dead. The curator, Jacques Sauniere, was to have met Langdon earlier that evening, but never made it. Langdon is seemingly roped in to cash in on his skills as a symbologist; the old man, it turns out, left a lot of clues around just minutes before he died. However, Langdon is considered the prime murder suspect by the French police.
Enter Sophie Neveu, an attractive, brainy cryptologist in the French Police division, and, as it happens, granddaughter of the murdered curator. She believes that Langdon is innocent and that he can help her solve the mystery of "grand-pere's" death. Sophie is convinced that her grandfather has set out a treasure hunt for her and that the trail, when followed, will lead to answers and possibly rich rewards. So it happens that Langdon and Neveu team up together, break codes, and chase trails. Their investigations lead them into the territories of secret ancient societies. The Priory of Sion, which included many famous personalities such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton, is one such.
What exactly is it that Sophie's grandfather wanted only her to find out? Why is the secret so explosive that both Neveu and Langdon have to fight off multiple enemies to get to the truth? These are some of the questions the pair need to answer, and fast.
Dan Brown's earlier novel, Angels and Demons, featured the same protagonist, Robert Langdon. Like the previous book, The Da Vinci Code is a well-researched thriller and Brown manages to educate without losing too much pacing. The Da Vinci Code is a great history lesson about ancient Christianity and matters related to The Holy Grail. In the book, Brown keeps the suspense taut and engaging. He does, however, resort to some clichéd methods such as moving along three subplots in parallel and leaving each chapter suspended in a cliffhanger--soap opera style.
The story occasionally strains credibility early on. How could a dying man, one wonders, have time to write out intricate mind puzzles even if as Sophie explains, her grandfather "entertained himself as a young man by creating anagrams of famous works of art." Fortunately, Brown's pacing doesn't leave too much time for questions. From the explosive start to the explosive finish, The Da Vinci Code is one satisfying thriller. I see movie rights being sold already. Pick this one up on a long flight home and you'll never know where the time went.Review by: Poornima Apte MAR 16, 2003
Web address: http://mostlyfiction.com/spy-thriller/brown_dan.htm
Q3: Research this case and write a summary in your own words outlining:
- The initial claim and demands by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh
- Some key features of the case in relation to Copyright and Intellectual Property issues
- The final court ruling, key issues supporting the court’s ruling, and consequences for the various parties involved.
- Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh sued Publisher Random House for the publication of Dan Brown's novel "The DaVinci Code. Baigent and Liegh alleged that Brown copied there ideas and used them to write his novel.
- Both books "The DaVinci Code" and "The holy blood and the holy grail" seem to based around a common theme that Jesus Christ fathered a child and that his line lives on today, this is why Mr Liegh and Mr Baigent believed there copyright to have been broken, they claimed their intellectual work to have been plagiarised.
- The High courts final ruling was that Mr Brown did use Liegh and Baigent's collected work to write his novel but did not substantially copy their work. Liegh and Baigent were ordered to pay a sum of $350,000 in damages to random house and were refused an appeal. The court stated that " A novelist must be free to "draw appropriately" from historical works without facing a court and having his integrity called into question". http://news.bbc.co.uk
A4: The film "The Davinci code" was released by Sony Pictures. If the court ruling had favoured Liegh and Baigent, then the film would not have been allowed to be released.
usatoday.com. http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-02-27-da-vinci-code-copyright-case_x.htmsony
Sony Pictures: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/thedavincicode/index.html
Q5: On 07-April-2006, Jon Silverman, a legal affairs analyst for BBC News, discussed the
impact of the case in relation to creative works. On the BBC News (International Version) website, find Silverman’s article – ‘No surprise’ in Da Vinci judgement. Outline the key issues raised by Silverman in relation to Copyright and creative works.
A5: One of the key issued raised by Silverman in his report was that, since no copyright can be placed on a concept, the claim would have to be based on how the concept is conveyed I.E the structure of the work. Another key issue noted by Silverman, was that under Copyright law, writers are given coyright protection if they can prove a degree of labour in their work.
'No surprise' in Da Vinci judgement. Jon Silverman. BBC News.co.uk
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4888954.stm
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