Well, I won't be buying their book on Amazon! One of the big stories on our local news last night was that the authors of the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail (HBHG) are suing Dan Brown for copyright infringement for his publication, The Da Vinci Code. Never mind that The Da Vinci Code has been out for over three years and hasn't exactly been a slow-burn bestseller. In fact, a book that's sold more than 36 million copies in an era where print is dead is anything but that. On top of that, the people who wrote HBHG have actually consulted on a variety of shows and programs related to The Da Vinci Code, using their influence as one of the sources for Dan Brown's research to ride a new wave of popularity for their book that had been largely forgotten for a couple of decades. Now, with Tom Hanks starring in TV ads as Robert Langdon, apparently it's time to strike while the iron's hot and blackmail Random House, Dan Brown, Imagine Entertainment, and Sony Pictures into giving them even more money. Well, writers of HBHG, I was going to buy your book because I am intrigued by all things Da Vinci Code, but you're officially on notice. You're almost dead to me, so don't push your luck. Maybe if you'd had this complaint 3 years ago when the book first came out (you had to have known) then that would be something different. Never mind that you can't copyright non-fiction (although I have an application in with the US Copyright office for exclusive rights to use Newton's laws. That means that everybody who uses gravity will have to pay me royalties) and that being used as a source doesn't violate copyright, especially if you're acknowledged, these guys want money. In fact, there's really nothing that they can do to get off notice, so guys that wrote HBHG? You're dead to me! Dead!
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