Dan Brown, author of the blockbuster novel The Da Vinci Code, is being sued for plagiarism in a New York court.
He denies that he lifted material for his international best-seller from another book and his lawyer yesterday urged Judge George Daniels to throw out copyright-infringement claims made by rival author Lewis Perdue.
Perdue claims Brown lifted plot material from two of his books – The Da Vinci Legacy and Daughter of God – and used it in The Da Vinci Code.
Brown said the plagiarism claims are nonsense.
“We anticipate that the action shall be summarily dismissed,” said Elizabeth McNamara, the lawyer for Brown and his publisher, Random House.
But Perdue insisted there are too many similarities between the whodunits to be a coincidence.
Judge Daniels said he will issue a ruling in the spring.