Author John Beiswenger’s poked sleeping dragon that is the Fans of Assassin’s Creed, when he took Ubisoft to court over claims the publisher infringed some of his copyrights to create the Assassin’s Creed universe.
The complaint filed previous month with the U.S. District Court for the middle district of Pennsylvania includes 11 counts of copyright infringement against Ubisoft and demanding damages of up to $5.25 million.
The lawsuit could also delay the release of Assassin’s Creed III, a fact that wiped the grins from many Assassins (Fans) and a few (hundred) to review-bombing Beiswenger’s Amazon pages.
John Beiswenger’s lawyer, Kelley Keller has come out to defend the lawsuit regarding certain perceived similarities between the novel Link and the Assassin’s Creed franchise, responded to Eurogamer on the negative reaction and her client’s claims:
“We understand that many gamers are upset about the litigation and potential for delay in the release of the next Assassin’s Creed video game, and as a result of that anger have been posting negative comments on Amazon – and other forums – about our client and his novel Link. However, copyright laws exist to protect authors and creators from others who copy or create works that are, under the law, substantially similar; failure to enforce copyright laws renders them meaningless.
“The Amazon ‘bombing,’ storm of negative comments and threats to our client have no bearing on the appropriateness, merits or outcome of this suit. They have no material effect on the legal claims.”
Lot of people are asking why Beiswenger decided to come out with this information now and not back in 2007, but his lawyer’s response is only that the lawsuit was brought before the court “within the applicable time periods required under the law.”Could be that Beiswenger’s attention was only just recently clued into the similarities, or he saw how lucrative the Assassin’s franchise has become and thought it best to act now.
Nevertheless both parties are moving on, Ubisoft sticking to their release date and not commenting on the situation. Most likely, if the court rules over in Beiswenger’s favor, Ubisoft will have to pay out some sort of settlement, but a deal will be reached whereby Assassin’s Creed III can meet its release date.
Previously, Alex Hutchinson creative director for Assassin’s Creed III said the game has made “huge progress” and added Assassin’s Creed III Features Real-Life Assassination
Assassin’s Creed III will release on October 30 for PC, PS3, Xbox360 and Wii U.
Pre-Order Assassin’s Creed III
Put everything aside, do you think that Beiswenger’s suit has some grounds?
You can like our page on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or add us to your circle on Google+ to keep yourself updated on all the latest news around the web.
No he just wants lots of money from Ubi because he found out how big the company is, its like writing a book about how tofly planes into towers andonly just knowing 9/11 happened.
We just keep on pushing him untill he breaks, and he will break.
W.A.L.
As if he's going to turn away from millions 'cause people are calling him names and saying mean things. Get real. We should be happy that the game's still coming out on the date that was preset.
this guy is really asking for it!!!
i didn't know this book "link" exist till now
i feel he wanted the game to grow and have many lovers then he can bring his copyright hammer to smash our hearts mean person he could said that when the game first start…..BUT NO he have to take some money and to smash some hearts on the way >:(
Good thing is they said AC3 is still coming out and because he sued them now that good thing is thay got Ezio done, if he sued them before Ezio may have never been alive.
This guy should be assassinated. Requiescat in pace, you bastard!
yer man true that
that guy is a templar and doesn't wan't to reveal truth :D:D
this guy is a fucking asshole! he claims that he created the whole "going back in time to relive the memories of your ancestors" thing, but there have been a lot of books written with that idea.
he just copied it from an other book, wrote a book about it and his book suck's!
seriously, i read his piece of crap and it's just awfull! and now he's suing ubisoft for it!?
this guy is a pathetic no life and should at least try to make something out of himself, instead of trying to steal other's succes!
True, there is rules in books/games you can have the same ideas they are not copyrights, you can't take charaters and stuff but ideas are ideas, every one may have the same idea you can't put a TM on it.
THAT GUY IS A TEMPLAR AND MY NEXT TARGET IM SUITING UP RIGHT NOW JUST GOTTA GRAB MY HIDDEN BLADE OUTA MY CODEX CHEST, COMON ASSASSINS LETS GET THEE BASTARDO.
People do not get upset game will be released !!!
but if john wins…there may not be another game?
he just remember now? already there are 4 games in the AC series , why just now? he is a fake lier
Cash grabs like this happen all the time in the gaming industry, the only difference here is that there's no real grounds for him to sue since you can't copyright an idea. Hopefully this either gets an out of court settlement or it gets thrown out.
this templar thinks that by coming out with the lawsuit, he'll be able to stop the assassin's creed series, but the fact is, no matter what happens in court, this will most likely be the last game in the series :(
I seriously doubt ubisoft writers stole any of his intellectual property, if he wants credit for being the first to think of an idea, id give it to him, they need to settle out of court because if a judge rules in his favor and as a result there are no more future games in this incredible story we get to play, we the fans, the consumers will be very very upset. I doubt his story is about the struggle between assassins and templars, or that we stole characters such as Altair or Ezio, and since this is a Game not a novel, its hard to claim any case of plagiarism, seeing as how the game is based on historical events, and even historical quotes. The story line of this game offers so much more to people than just a game about fighting and killing, its really one of the best stories ever made, or interpreted if you want to say it that way.
i totally agree with you there
TEMPLAR!!! He's just mad his books aren't as good as the games. And well never make the amount of money Ubisoft has with Assassin's Creed. And you don't see amazing fanart for his novel or costumes for that matter. And I doubt he'll be getting fans. Stop while you're ahead templar. Your downfall is only beginning.
Lol he's only alive because its illegal to kill
It was a bloody terrible book so now he feels he has to make money buy suing someone who made the same idea a hit, and word to the wise he should go back to first grade because his grammar sucks!