AND NOW IT GOES TO THE JUDGE:

Judge Asks Sharp Questions at Close of 'Da Vinci Code' Case

By SARAH LYALL
Published: March 21, 2006 (New York Times)

LONDON, March 20 — The lawyer for the two men who say Dan Brown stole from their book for his novel "The Da Vinci Code" faced sharp and relentless questioning from the judge in the case during closing arguments in the High Court here on Monday.

The judge, Peter Jones, will not issue a decision for several weeks, and it is impossible to know how he will rule. But his tough questions appeared to reflect skepticism, even exasperation, toward some of the arguments put forward by the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, two of the three authors of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail." (The book's other author, Henry Lincoln, is not taking part in the lawsuit.) They claim that Mr. Brown lifted the central "architecture" for his megaselling "Da Vinci Code" from their nonfiction book, published in 1982.

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Justice Jones seems to be showing good sense in this case and I shall be very surprised if he rules against Random House.