'Da Vinci Code' author Brown takes stand

LONDON (AP) — Dan Brown took the stand Monday to rebut accusations that he copied from other writers' work to produce his huge best-seller The Da Vinci Code. Authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh are suing Da Vinci Code publisher Random House for copyright infringement, claiming Brown "appropriated the architecture" of their 1982 non-fiction book The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. Both books explore theories — dismissed by theologians but embraced by millions of readers — that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, the couple had a child and the bloodline survives. [More]