Justice has not been served.
Earlier this month, Judge Peter Smith of London's Royal Courts of Justice rejected a copyright-infringement claim against The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown, determining that Brown and his researcher-wife, Blythe, did not appropriate "the architecture" for the best-selling novel from historians Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh's 1982 nonfiction book, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. The judge's decision came as a great relief not only to Brown and his publisher, but also to the producers of Ron Howard's forthcoming film version of the acclaimed potboiler, which surely would have been in jeopardy had the claimants prevailed.
In rendering his decision, Judge Smith had at his disposal Brown's 25,000-word sworn witness statement to the High Court, from which he apparently extracted enough information to convince him of Brown's innocence. But that's where he went wrong. Instead of combing through the meticulous testimony for legal clues, maybe Judge Smith would have arrived at a different conclusion by taking a page from The Da Vinci Code itself, and searching the text for statements that, when unscrambled, told a different story.
Keep in mind, just like with any crime, an anagram is at its cleverest when it's letter-perfect.
BROWN: "The story is a blend of historical fact, legend, myth, and fiction."
BROWN DECODED: "O, strife! I accidentally stole the Christ thing on and off. My bad."
BROWN: "In these situations, I always remind Blythe I was trying to write a fast-moving page-turner."
BROWN DECODED: "I'm a lying two-bit word-pirater. That thieving literary genius. Satan's finest. (Yawn.) So sue me."
BROWN: "In doing so, I see that more notes have survived from The Da Vinci Code than from any of my previous novels."
BROWN DECODED: "I lost my notes--I've none! My dog ate them and ran off! Then our PC crashed. (Invasive voodoo virus!) I'm feverish..."
BROWN: "The Da Vinci Code raised eyebrows."
BROWN DECODED: "Yeah, I borrowed scenes. Addictive."
BROWN: "I remain astounded by the Claimants' choice to file this plagiarism suit."
BROWN DECODED: "Character assassination! Deception! Filth! Lies! O, I die! (But am I guilty? Hmm...)"
BROWN: "For them to suggest...that I have 'hijacked and exploited' their work is simply untrue."
BROWN DECODED: "This trial's a joke--a stupid whodunnit! Trickery! Egos! (Afterthought: I'm vexed. Help me...)"
BROWN: "The Da Vinci Code is a novel and therefore a work of fiction... obviously not real."
BROWN DECODED: "Leonardo? OK, not fiction--but he's dead! Clever, eh? Fiasco? Foolery? No! Viva art! (I win.)"
BROWN: "To give added interest to readers, many of my character names are anagrams."
BROWN DECODED: "My artistry's overrated, fans. The codes? Arranged at random. Gee, I am a menace."
This article originally appeared in The Chicago Tribune.