Author Dan Brown has been cleared of all charges of plagiarism relating to his bestselling book, 'The Da Vinci Code', by the High Court in London today.
Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, the authors of a 1982 non-fiction work entitled 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail' had brought a suit against Brown's publishers, Random House, claiming that he had copied their work in 'The Da Vinci Code'.
Justice Peter Smith ruled that Brown did not copy the theme for his novel - that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a child - from the earlier book.
In a statement Brown said: "Today's verdict shows that this claim was utterly without merit."
"A novelist must be free to draw appropriately from historical works without fear that he'll be sued and forced to stand in a courtroom facing a series of allegations that call into question his very integrity as a person,'' he added.
The paperback of 'The Da Vinci Code' was released last week in the US - on the same day that Michael Baigent released his new book, 'The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History'.
This judgment clears the way for the release of the film version of 'The Da Vinci Code', directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, on 19 May.
