LONDON, April 27 (UPI) -- British lawyers are poring over the 71-page decision in "The Da Vinci Code" plagiarism case in an effort to crack a code embedded by a London judge.
Justice Peter Smith, who cleared author Dan Brown of plagiarism claims brought against him, told The Times of London he decided to have "a bit of fun" with his written judgment.
The decision handed down earlier this month contains a series of "odd italicizations," which the judge admitted "were something more than a typo," the newspaper said.
The first part of the message has already been decoded as "Smithy code," the newspaper said.
"We're not sure yet what it means, but we're working on it," a partner at the London-based law firm Olswang told the Times.
Director Ron Howard's film of Brown's best-selling book opens worldwide May 19.
