Let's hear it for common sense...

So the verdict is in on the Dan Brown Plagiarism case. The judge, from what I gathered in the article, found a very dignified way to laugh in the face of the claimants.

Speaking as someone who still hopes to make a career as a writer, I can only just begin to express my relief. I can safely use research sources without having to worry about someone coming at me and claiming I stole their book to write mine. (Doesn't mean it wouldn't happen, just means it's much less likely.)

The claimants are still coming out of the case in good shape. That might be impacted if they're ordered to pay court costs (which would be reasonable, I think)--costs that ran in the neighborhood of $1.75 MILLION. But their book has been selling 7000 copies a week lately, up from a couple of hundred before the case was announced...if there's any poetic justice in this case, people will realize what kind of ego-bloated, opportunistic lampreys they're dealing with and stop buying...but the old adage is true. Bad publicity is better than no publicity, in this case.

But it's reassuring to see that, occasionally, a court of law can still function as a court of justice. It's a distinction that gets more and more blurry these days. Nice to see that there's a judge out there who's still willing to say, "That's a very well-organized and lucid argument, Counselor...but it's still bullshit."