NASHVILLE, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The new book "Breaking the Da Vinci Code," which critiques a U.S. best seller of a similar name, is headed for Nashville federal court.
The similar name part is why Random House Inc. is demanding Nashville publisher Thomas Nelson Inc. change the title of the upcoming release.
Random House is the publisher of "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown, which according to the publisher, has sold more than 5 million copies. The novel begins as a Paris murder mystery, but as the mystery unravels, so does an alternative Christian history in which Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, who bore him a child.
Thomas Nelson's book, "Breaking the Da Vinci Code" by Darrell Bock, is a critique of the best seller.
Random House contends the title of the new book is "confusingly similar to the title" of The Da Vinci Code, the Nashville Tennessean reported Thursday.
Thomas Nelson filed a federal complaint in response, asking a U.S. district judge to declare the publisher has a First Amendment right to use the Da Vinci phrase in the title, and the right to publish a critique of Brown's book and label it as such.
