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Assassin's Creed Lawsuit Voluntarily Dismissed



Last month American author John Beiswenger sued Ubisoft with claims that the company flat-out stole ideas from his novel, Link, and repurposed them for the Assassin’s Creed series. Today we have confirmation that Beiswenger is backing off. For now.

In Link, a machine known as the Link device is used to witness points of history through the eyes of those that experienced it. Link’s plot also involves assassinations, religious themes, and historical ancestors. These similarities didn’t sit well with the author, but a solution has been found.

Gametrailers was also caught up in the legal mess for publishing Assassin’s Creed trailers, and they decided to settle with Beiswenger out of court. In the aftermath of the settlement, Beiswenger decided to halt his pursuit of damages from Ubisoft. We contacted Beiswenger’s lawyer, Kelly Clements Keller of the Keller Law Firm, who confirmed, “The claims against Gametrailers have been settled and the claims against Ubisoft have been dismissed, without prejudice.”

While he's no longer pursuing his claims against Ubisoft, Beiswenger still believes his copyrighted work was infringed upon by Ubisoft and is free to press further charges in the future. In a press release, Keller made the following statement:

“My client’s decision to exercise his right to voluntarily dismiss the action, without prejudice, in no way diminishes his stalwart conviction in the merit of his claims against Ubisoft. He is unwavering in his belief that many key components of the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise infringe on many key components of his novel, Link. We believe Ubisoft has engaged in egregious acts of copyright infringement and, should he choose to seek redress through the courts in the future, we remain confident that a trier of fact would agree.”

Has anybody read Link? If you have, sound off in the comments below with your thoughts on any similarities.

[Source: Gamesta]

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Comments
  • Yay! I was sort of scared that AC3 might have been canceled or delayed, even though I had a feeling this would never amount to more than another forgotten lawsuit.
  • Well, miss keller, if your client is so stalward, so unwavering in his conviction that ubisoft stole from his little-known novel, why did he dismiss the lawsuit?
  • I'm glad this is over. This whole lawsuit was dumb anyways the author just wanted some money which is just sad
  • I was actually worried about the guy. One man going up against a rather large international company with more lawyers than the population of Spain. He probably saw the reality of the picture, crapped his pants, and then backed down.
  • good news :)

  • Letting them release AC3 to sue them for even more money, when they have increased profits to show for, sounds like.
  • Good thing. We have to worry about zombies now. Lawsuits are stupid now that zombies are a real threat. You can't sue a zombie. They just eat your face.
  • I hope the guy wins, I'm glad AC III won't be canceled but I believe in rightful justice. Give him a spot in the credits and a percentage of the profit.
  • This guy is stupid. I bet he based his claims off of the base idea alone.
  • I read link after I heard about the lawsuit. It has similar plot devices and set up. Link is less focused on singular characters and has a very different tone compared to the conspiracy feel of AC.
  • his book wasnt the first to have people reliveing there ancestors memorys so he was no room to talk
  • Copyright laws in the United States are dumb and need an immediate overhaul. With that said if Ubisoft did in fact commit copyright infringement of some sort, than this dude deserves to be compensated. While I think he should be compensated I also believe that Ubisoft has enough original content that they themselves have created to warrant them keeping the franchise going while paying John Beiswenger his dues.
  • That ought to get him a few more sales, now that AC fans know about it, curiosity is sure to be piqued!
  • This was just an elaborate way of getting some publicity for the book.
  • ubisoft- the thieves the writer-idiot for waiting until now to sue He should have done it after the first game was released
  • WHAT? YOU'RE BACKING DOWN!? You idiot this could have shown ubisoft to come up with ideas on their own! Whatever, at least now everyone is aware that AC's story is a rip off of his work, not entirely but still.
  • I guess the broken windows and Assassins symbols painted in blood were to much for him...joking...OR AM I? *foreshadowing music rings out*
  • i am reminded of a book called timeline that was also similar, maybe the author should sue john beiswenger and therefore ubisoft by proxy... what people need to remember is that most everything that comes out shares a premise with something that came out in the past, the argument that it is copyright infringement is ridiculous, unless they directly stole the names, logos, plot-points, and specific events from his book. or else Romero could sue everyone to do anything with modern zombies
  • It's because he already got money from gametrailers, the company that just hosted the trailer which he apparently no longer cares about. This is why convoluted copyright laws suck.

  • Just another person looking out for ways to make even more money, no respect for this guy at all.
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