Dan Brown Takes the Stand

Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, took the stand today, in order to refute accusations that he plagiarized much of his bestselling novel. Katherine Rushton, a reporter for Bookseller, told NPR today that he appeared fairly relaxed in court, even signing books outside the courthouse. Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh claim that Brown "lifted the whole architecture" of the research they conducted for their non-fiction work, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, when writing his own book. (They are actually suing an imprint of Random House, who published The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail.) Sales are soaring for both books.