Author in 'Da Vinci Code' case dies

One of the writers who tried to sue for plagiarism over Dan Brown's blockbuster novel 'The Da Vinci Code' has died.

US-born Richard Leigh, 64, who had lived in Britain for three decades, died in London last week from a heart condition, the Jonathan Clowes Agency said.

Leigh was co-author of 'Holy Blood, Holy Grail', a work of speculative non-fiction that claimed Jesus Christ fathered a child with Mary Magdalene and that the bloodline continues to this day.

A best-seller on its release in 1982, the book gained new readership after Brown's thriller, which explores similar themes and has sold more than 40 million copies, was released in 2003.

Leigh and co-author Michael Baigent sued Brown's publisher Random House, claiming 'The Da Vinci Code' "appropriated the architecture" of their book. A third 'Holy Blood' author, Henry Lincoln, did not join the lawsuit.

In April 2006, High Court judge Peter Smith threw out the claim, saying the ideas in question were too general to be protected by copyright.

The high-profile court case sent 'Holy Blood' back up the best-seller lists, but Baigent and Leigh were left with a bill estimated at almost £3m (€4.2m) after the judge ordered them to pay 85% of Random House's legal costs.

"We lost on the letter of the law. I think we won on the spirit of the law, to that extent we feel vindicated," Leigh said after the verdict.

The judge criticised the claimants however, calling Baigent "a poor witness" and saying: "I am not sure what Mr Leigh thought was the purpose of his evidence."

An attempt to appeal the ruling was rejected earlier this year.