Author Drops Assassin's Creed Lawsuit

[Karloff]

Author Drops Assassin's Creed Lawsuit

Link writer dismisses complaint against Ubisoft "without prejudice."

John L. Beiswenger, author of Link, has voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit against Ubisoft. Beiswenger complained Ubisoft had infringed his copyrights [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116842-Author-Claims-Assassins-Creed-Set-Up-Was-His-Idea], using ideas from Link in its popular Assassin's Creed franchise. The case was dismissed without prejudice, which means that Beiswenger can reactivate the lawsuit in the future, should he wish. This follows on Beiswenger's settlement with Gametrailers, Inc., on 18th May, pursuant to the same complaint. The details of that settlement have not been disclosed.

"I filed the Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction in federal court because I believe authors should vigorously defend their rights in their creative works," said Beiswenger in an official statement. "Regrettably, the resources required to defend those rights are unavailable to many individual creators. As a result, rampant infringement is occurring with impunity."

Beiswenger said that unrelated business issues had forced him to dismiss his complaint. The Voluntary Dismissal was filed at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on 29th May, 2012. A further statement from Beiswenger's lawyers makes it clear that Beiswenger's fundamental belief in his cause is unshaken. That statement alleged that Ubisoft had engaged in egregious acts of copyright infringement, and claimed that any court would find in their favor, should the matter come to trial. It was simply a matter of money, and Beiswenger didn't have enough.

Sources: Joystiq [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-30-author-drops-assassins-creed-copyright-lawsuit]


Permalink

 

[Fasckira]

Probably for the best. His case was pretty shaky to begin with and it would have taken an insane amount of money to try and prove his claim in court successfully.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Of course. It was all money. It wasn't that he could sufficiently back up his claims... really, DNA being used to unlock memories! You really think that's much of a unique, original sci-fi concept? It's basically one step above Total Recall, or a step down from Back to the Future. And the idea of stepping inside a machine to see inside your brain? How many times has that been used?? He thinks Assassin's Creed specifically apes his work? It, like so much videogame fiction, is a random assorted hodge podge of everything. That's generally what happens when you build a game from the ground up around a gameplay element and then craft a framing device around that.

This isn't about maintaining a copyright, it's about cashing in on a multi-million dollar entertainment franchise. If Assassin's Creed was an indie property that shifted three hundred units a year, he wouldn't even BOTHER with this. It stinks of attention-seeking and PR whoring.

 

[Amnestic]

"I filed the Complaint and Motion for Preliminary Injunction in federal court because I believe authors should vigorously defend their rights in their creative works," said Beiswenger in an official statement. "Regrettably, the resources required to defend those rights are unavailable to many individual creators."

You know what? I think his lawsuit was full of shit. But this statement I agree with. It should be easier for individual creators to defend their works. Big companies shouldn't be able to get away with it simply by dragging out the case and outspending the individual.

But he probably knows people agree with that sentiment, which is why he's saying it.

Still think his approach was solely for

attention-seeking and PR whoring.

 

[Andronicus]

Still think his approach was solely for

attention-seeking and PR whoring.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what he got. I'd very interested in seeing sales figures for his books before and after this whole debacle. Sensible people will ignore everything he says and just move on, but I don't doubt that there's a large amount of people who bought something he wrote to see what the fuss was about. I certainly didn't know about him or his stupid book before this.

Hopefully his slightly elongated 15 minutes are up, and he'll just fade back into obscurity where he belongs.

Otherwise, yes I agree that it's too difficult for smaller studios/people to protect their intellectual property though, but I don't see any legislature coming to rectify this in the near future. Which sucks, but there you go.

 

[Toilet]

Im sure "Unrelated Business Issues" translates to "I ran out of money".

 

[RJ 17]

I'm still waiting for the author to answer the "Why now?" question. His book came out back in the 80's or something, right? Might have the decade wrong, but it came out LONG before AC. Soooooooooooo why now? Why wait until the game is on it's 5th (holy shit, just realized it's on AC 5 ) installment to bring up this issue?

 

[getoffmycloud]

Still think his approach was solely for

attention-seeking and PR whoring.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what he got. I'd very interested in seeing sales figures for his books before and after this whole debacle. Sensible people will ignore everything he says and just move on, but I don't doubt that there's a large amount of people who bought something he wrote to see what the fuss was about. I certainly didn't know about him or his stupid book before this.

Hopefully his slightly elongated 15 minutes are up, and he'll just fade back into obscurity where he belongs.

Otherwise, yes I agree that it's too difficult for smaller studios/people to protect their intellectual property though, but I don't see any legislature coming to rectify this in the near future. Which sucks, but there you go.

Normally though when a company is in the wrong they will go for a settlement rather than take the risk of losing a lot more money in court, I do think this case was full of shit.

 

[Doom972]

While I haven't read his book and I can't know how valid his claim is, I think it's a shame that individuals can't afford to protect their copyrighted work, while a big company can sue you for using a word.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

That guy is so full of shit.

 

[antipunt]

That guy is so full of shit.

Was trying to say this, but in a more eloquent/detailed manner.

hmm...

I guess this will just have to do..

 

[Chairman Miaow]

That guy is so full of shit.

Was trying to say this, but in a more eloquent/detailed manner.

hmm...

I guess this will just have to do..

I was going to try and be a bit more subtle, but this kind of thing really isn't worth it.

 

[ElPatron]

While I haven't read his book and I can't know how valid his claim is, I think it's a shame that individuals can't afford to protect their copyrighted work, while a big company can sue you for using a word.

Yup. I don't care for the author, I just know that if the roles were reversed he would lose.

That guy is so full of shit.

Was trying to say this, but in a more eloquent/detailed manner.

hmm...

I guess this will just have to do..

That gentleman is full of manure!

 

[Metalrocks]

he never had a chance. he sure got more attention that way for his book but i guess getting 1 or 2 more sales werent good enough to sue ubisoft. i bet he thought he can sue them for millions since ubisoft makes that money and the AC games are a full success world wide.
and look at him now. no money left. which is a good news. so this means AC3 will come out in time

but for this idiot, i think this video is suitable.

 

[Beautiful End]

Spoiler: Uh-huh...

No, seriously. We all knew from day 1 this was just a scam. This guy just wanted attention and being the US, the easiest way to gain attention is via a lawsuit. We all knew this guy couldn't possibly win because he didn't have a case; he's just an attention whore. So color me not surprised at all.

I'll be a shallow consumer and I won't read his book ever. If he hadn't tried doing all this, maybe I would have given it a chance. but after all this, I don't care how good or bad his book is. I just dislike it now.

 

[Dr. Octogonopus]

Well that was slightly anticlimatic. I was kind of hoping for an epic legal battle that would be retold through out the ages. The unknown underdog fighting the giant corporation that made millions telling the story of the unknown underdog fighting the evil corporation would have been quite meta

 

[Nerexor]

I believe I can speak for all of us who were interested in this topic by the following statement:

Owned, *****.

 

[Cyrus Hanley]

I bet people are still gonna crap on his book on Amazon.

 

[shrekfan246]

I'm still waiting for the author to answer the "Why now?" question. His book came out back in the 80's or something, right? Might have the decade wrong, but it came out LONG before AC. Soooooooooooo why now? Why wait until the game is on it's 5th (holy shit, just realized it's on AC 5 ) installment to bring up this issue?

His book came out in 2001, actually. But you know something that is hilarious? Googling "Link" will not give you any site affiliated with his book in any way (at least on the first page). Even googling "link book" will only give you a news report about the review-bombing of his book [http://gamepolitics.com/2012/04/20/gamers-review-bomb-link-book-over-ubisoft-lawsuit] and a paltry mention in the "Shopping results" section.

Anyway, attention whoring, not enough money, blah blah blah everyone else has said it.