Ubisoft sued over Assassin's Creed copyright infringement
John L. Beiswenger claims numerous similarities with his novel, Link
John L. Beiswenger, an American science fiction author, is suing Ubisoft over alleged similarities between his novel, Link, and the Assassin's Creed franchise.
Beiswenger's novel is based on the premise that ancestral memories can be "accessed, recalled, relived and re-experienced" by participants in a radical new scientific process. The suit lists a wide range of similarities, from narrative themes to specific use of individual words.
Link also includes numerous references to assassins and assassinations in relation to the new process. The legal document cites a number of extracts from the book, including this from page 290:
"'If John Wilkes Booth fathered a child after he assassinated Lincoln, and we found a descendant alive today, we could place Booth at the scene and perhaps smell the gunpowder.' 'Ancestral memories?' 'As far back as you want.'"
Other similarities mentioned include the technology used to conduct the memory experiments and, "spiritual and biblical tones, with references made to Jesus and God, the Garden of Eden, and forbidden fruit."
Beiswenger is seeking damages for each product released since Assassin's Creed was established in 2007, including all four games, the guide-books, the comic series, and two trailers.
The suit requests that damages of no less than $1.05 million be awarded to Beiswenger, with that amount rising to $5.25 million if the judge rules that Ubisoft for wilfully infringed his copyrights. It also requests that the judge prevent the release of Assassin's Creed III and all related products.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Chris Madsen on 18th April 2012 11:43am
Am sure Ubi will settle - a couple of million will be nothing to them, especially if they can have some of it paid by the Quebec taxpayer. If I was the writer, I'd settle for a smaller amount of money, royalties of future products (just a few local pennies per unit sold will add up) and a "based on an idea by..." somewhere on the box:)
Suits like this are almost impossible to prove one way or another, they inevitably end up in settlement. So if Beiswenger just asked for a bit of cash, Ubi would bargain it down to nothing. Whereas asking for things like the AC3 embargo gives him something to "concede" during negotiations, without losing out on compensation entirely.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Antony Johnston on 18th April 2012 12:11pm
Also how did the Game in any way Damage this guys sale of the books, if anything sales should of improved to some degree, since if you had come off playing AC and read about a book on the same concept, you may be interested in reading it. This is just another reason why I hate the American Suing culture and the demands for compensation, there has be some changes to laws because this guy has basically no grounds that the games damaged his book.
chances are, it spread outwards like a wifi beacon that anyone can tune into.
You can see the effect of this in games, film, animation, books, inventions, next gen tech, nano tech, physics, etc
He'll definitely settle, he just wants money not an actual embargo!
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Charlie Moritz on 18th April 2012 4:49pm
This happens all the time with movies, and sometimes a settlement is reached just because it's cheaper and faster than paying lawyers (see Harlan Ellison and Cameron's Terminator for a good example). The suit in this case probably has much to do with the scale of Assassin's Creed's success, improving the odds for some sort of payment to make the whole thing go away.
Like Matt H says, a lot of these are quite tenuous (though I personally would extricate the word 'quite'), especially so when you consider there are literally hundreds of thousands of sci-fi novels out there. Is Ubi expected to read them all before setting about creating anything?
I myself am writing a sci-fi novel; must I read 450,000+ books before I finish it – just to be absolutely certain I'm not unknowingly plagiarising anyone?
There is no such thing as an original concept. Ideas are cheap, and it's how you write it and how you mix it that makes it unique.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Dan Howdle on 18th April 2012 6:02pm
And Andreas, damn good to see another fan of Deaver on here. New Kathryn Dance novel in June.
Simple similarity between concepts isn't enough to get over the relevant legal hurdle. I imagine Ubisoft will go for a quick summary judgment (assuming they can't get pleadings kicked out on face value) or give him a token settlement w/o admitting wrong doing.
In any case, I wouldn't worry about AC3 being delayed on the basis of this suit.
He's sueing for damages because the game makes no reference to his books either in regards to where the concept came from or that there are any books at all.
The time discrepency can be as simple as his not having known about assasins creed until someone else asked was it based on his book because of X, Y and Z elements. At that point he most likely looked at the games and called (rightfully if you look at the whole premise of the books) shinanigans.
The call to stop AC3 will be down to wanting to get paid if they continue the franchise and it's proved to be based on his work. This is what any writer would do.
For example, if Ubisoft met with the guy, or if he applied for a job there and referenced his novel, then it becomes less about copyright and more about business relationship.
That aside, good luck to Ubisoft on pushing through (imo they'll settle), and here's hoping that AC3 isn't as rubbish as Revelations!