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Ubisoft sued over Assassin's Creed copyright infringement

Darklord said:
Reliving memories? Biblical tones? Yeah...pretty broad there. Ubisoft will be throwing everything at it or just settle out of court.
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It sounds a little more specific than that. I haven't read his novel but if it deals with using a machine to access ancestral memories, that is very similar to what they're doing in AC. If there is a biblical thread throughout his novel as well, he may have a case. Still, this will probably live in court hell for a while.

Not sure why he waited till now though.


kruis said:
It's highly unlikely that anyone has ever read anything by John Beiswenger since his books are published either by Infinity Publishing or CreateSpace. (Just look up the publishers for the three books of his that are available on Amazon). In other words, he's an amateur writer who has to self publish his novels because no self respecting real publisher has been interested so far. No one besides his immediate family probably knows he's written a few books.

Besides that, if you read the legal document his claims are very, very vague. His claim is that there are numerous similarities between his book Link and the Assassin's Creed games, like the idea of combining assassins with genetic memories. The thing is: that idea is the core of the whole Assassin's Creed series. Take that away and there's no story and no game left. But in his book Link there are only four references to asssasins between pages 290 and 304 in his book Link (total number of pages is about 360) and only one paragraph mentions that idea along the way. That's nothing more than a coincidence. Or rather, that's just what happens when writers take an idea and try to rationalize the science behind it, the ramifications and limits of an idea. That's why there are a handful very vague similarities between Link and the Assassin's Creed because the core idea is similar. (And even that core idea wasn't original in the first place)
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Thanks for the details.
 
I looked up his site.

"Link, by John L. Beiswenger, reads like science fiction, but is based off of theory and science that could be fact.

...

The book's subject matter is the very existance of the soul and of God.

...

This book will make you think about the existence of God,
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Yep. All that scientific data on the soul storing memory and God. Could be fact!
 
AB12 said:
He might get a few more sales from this stunt.
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Don't kid yourself. He's a self-published author, not a real one. All he's hoping for is that Ubisoft wants to sttle out of court instead of waiting for the trial. (Which he's going to lose, he doesn't have a leg to stand on)
 
kruis said:
It's highly unlikely that anyone has ever read anything by John Beiswenger since his books are published either by Infinity Publishing or CreateSpace. (Just look up the publishers for the three books of his that are available on Amazon). In other words, he's an amateur writer who has to self publish his novels because no self respecting real publisher has been interested so far. No one besides his immediate family probably knows he's written a few books.

Besides that, if you read the legal document his claims are very, very vague. His claim is that there are numerous similarities between his book Link and the Assassin's Creed games, like the idea of combining assassins with genetic memories. The thing is: that idea is the core of the whole Assassin's Creed series. Take that away and there's no story and no game left. But in his book Link there are only four references to asssasins between pages 290 and 304 in his book Link (total number of pages is about 360) and only one paragraph mentions that idea along the way. That's nothing more than a coincidence. Or rather, that's just what happens when writers take an idea and try to rationalize the science behind it, the ramifications and limits of an idea. That's why there are a handful very vague similarities between Link and the Assassin's Creed because the core idea is similar. (And even that core idea wasn't original in the first place)
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Your second paragraph makes sense and I applaud you for it. However, saying that because he is a self-published author he has no copyright in his book is very ignorant.
 
35. A recurring theme in Link is the battle between good and evil; in
Link, Med Diagnostics plans to steal and use the Link technology to its benefit;
and governmental entities try to get Search International to use the Link device and
process to interrogate “assassins” and their families.

36. A recurring theme in the Assassin’s Creed video games and books is a
battle between good and evil; in the Assassin’s Creed video game series, Abstergo
Industries uses the Animus technology to interrogate Desmond to try and find
other assassins.
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I guess no one else can use good vs evil anymore.
 
How often is the "stop the release of these products!" injunction ever granted? Like what percentage of those who put it in their suit get it?
 
scy said:
Well, here's the synopsis from the Amazon page:
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Well I thought that the way genetic memories in AC work is that they are stored in genes and DNA, not some magical soul partical. Added to the fact that genetic memories aren't exactly a new idea, I don't think this copyrite claim holds too much weight.
 
Criminal Upper said:
These type of lawsuits never work. Like that person that sued everyone who was involved with Terminator, the Matrix, etc.
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That's why he is asking for ban on sales of game.

He will try to force ubisoft into out of court agreement to not risk this happening and pocket nice chunk of money.
 
Mario007 said:
Wow I love the reaction here on Gaf. He's suing my favourite game franchise so he must be wrong and must be trolling and so fuck him.
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Boilerplate legal strategy in North America: make vague claims, go to court. I'm pretty sure with a good lawyer you can word your way into a lot of claims. Given every lawsuit seen this year in gaming or the phone space, it's hard to take any of it as more than sabre rattling until there's a ruling.

Plus, since he's apparently a telecom executive that seems proud of his patents...well, let's just say I see all the smoke of someone with money to burn and none of the fire of a legit case.

kruis said:
Besides that, if you read the legal document his claims are very, very vague. His claim is that there are numerous similarities between his book Link and the Assassin's Creed games, like the idea of combining assassins with genetic memories. The thing is: that idea is the core of the whole Assassin's Creed series. Take that away and there's no story and no game left. But in his book Link there are only four references to asssasins between pages 290 and 304 in his book Link (total number of pages is about 360) and only one paragraph mentions that idea along the way. That's nothing more than a coincidence.
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Yep. The claimant will call it merciless infringement, the defendant will say there's hardly any connection at all, and once both sides have spent sufficient money, he will either go away or they make a settlement that is cheaper than further court time.

Apoc29 said:
It's like he made it in MS Paint lol.
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The best part is how there is this big quote that is also the last line on the description. It's almost like a photoshop meme
 
Mario007 said:
Your second paragraph makes sense and I applaud you for it. However, saying that because he is a self-published author he has no copyright in his book is very ignorant.
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That's not what I wrote.
 
Twinduct said:
So we can have copyright on ideas? I though the whole idea was if something was copied verbatim?

Silly patents.
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You can't copyright mere ideas, only the form of expression of this idea. I wouldn't be too worried for UbiSoft. Some of the basic ideas (reliving past memories) are the same, but the entire context of the AC storyline is very different than what's in that book.
 
mjc said:
Looks like one guy has at least.
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"What better place to look beyond than trough the mind of one who saw to that point but no further."

"Death has lost it's definition!"

07ebf480651ebc43730ec4bf229c6fdb469b7838.gif
 
So that guy just happened to sue Ubisoft now instead of when the first game came out. Sure makes all sense, try to get easy money elsewhere John L. Beiswenger.
 
Mario007 said:
Wow I love the reaction here on Gaf. He's suing my favourite game franchise so he must be wrong and must be trolling and so fuck him.
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It's more that this seems pretty out there in terms of being realistic. His book doesn't really seem to have much connection besides "They use technology to relive memories and religion is involved!" If it pans out that he really was plagiarized then by all means, good for him to go after it like this. However, it doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Also, I don't even like AC :x
 
kruis said:
If anyone wants to read this guy's claims:
http://www.bannerwitcoff.com/_docs/Ubisoft_Complaint.pdf
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Why is Gametrailers listed as a defendant?

EDIT: Ah, nevermind:

21. The video game trailer, “PlayStation Home Space Trailer,” based on
the Assassin’s Creed video game series, was released in 2010 by Defendant
Gametrailers.

22. The video game trailer, “Game Trailers: 420, Assassin’s Creed
Revelations” based on the Assassin’s Creed video game series, was released by
Defendant Gametrailers in 2007. The U.S. Copyright Registration No.
PA0001769871is attached as Exhibit C.
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OgTheClever said:
Well I thought that the way genetic memories in AC work is that they are stored in genes and DNA, not some magical soul partical. Added to the fact that genetic memories aren't exactly a new idea, I don't think this copyrite claim holds too much weight.
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It doesn't hold actually because I can find tons of books out here similar to John L. Beiswenger book, Link.

I come with something else; I never manage to finish first AC game and either the others because I don't know why my PC freezes after few moments even after a clean Windows install, so I didn't know much about the story after I start reading in ACwikia last year and I understood everything, and actually I was really surprised to see such concept on a game, especially Ubisoft because I knew some of this already from some books that my mother read about them. So I knew even before first AC appear and when was that; 2007 ?

2.5 million ? I think this person needs some money urgent or he didn't accept how bad, maybe his book was sold and now he found out a way how to retrieve them.
 
What this author doesn't realize is that we are in the age where people can come to very similar ideas despite having vastly different paths of how they got to said idea (especially when considering the wide dissemination of information these days, including the internet).

It's like Battle Royale and The Hunger Games; two very, very similar ideas (albeit, pretty different in actual execution) that were most reached upon pretty independently from each other. And even then, that situation is far more severe (and yet, the authors of both still managed to deal with that pretty amicably). This situation is more splitting hairs at biblical references, some very vague mentions about assassins, and the ANIMUS/ancestral memory concept. However, keep in mind that complaints like this don't have to be super descriptive; if they can allege enough to show some where there is fire, that will be enough for a court to go forward.

My only concern for this scenario is that there is always that one looney court in the country that may go for this instead of granting a summary judgment outright (essentially ending the case before it even begins). Moreover, the court could be like "okay, we will grant an injunction stopping the release of Assassin's Creed III until the litigation is finished," which is actually the bigger concern to be had here.
 
Usually when these sort of court actions come out you are surprised by the points made. They will list 10 or so similarities in an effort to get public reaction on their side. Once more of the story gets out, usually those points fall apart. In this case I am not blown away by the similarities listed. I only see one true possible connection to his book, and even that is generalized. Since I have not read, or will read, the book I will wait for experts to chime in.

And passing ancestral memories down is not a new concept in the literary world. I seem to recall a comic book dealing with a scientist accessing them. This of course I read over 30 years ago, so I might just be imaging it, but when I first played Creed I remembered something like it.
 
Eeehh.

From what I've browsed on Amazon, it doesn't have much in common with AC other than the vague idea of using computer technology to access genetic memories.

It'd never hold up in a full case, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ubisoft settled with him for a couple hundred grand.
 
Htown said:
Eeehh.

From what I've browsed on Amazon, it doesn't have much in common with AC other than the vague idea of using computer technology to access genetic memories.

It'd never hold up in a full case, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ubisoft settled with him for a couple hundred grand.
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Why settle when Ubisoft is in the clear?
 
So reading over the actual complaint and uh ... really? One of his bullet points is that his book and Assassin's Creed both use first-person perspective to talk about events!

Also nice to see that "using the word link" made it. It's like Edge lives on.
 
Hi, I can confirm that this guy will never, ever win his case. And he won't be able to get any sort of injunction preventing or delaying the release of the game, because he is full of shit.
 
Eh... Worst case is probably Ubisoft pays $10 million to get the case dropped and goes on to make twice that in a year from the game.
 
I actually saw this one coming. My sister works for the law firm who is handling the case. Without getting into details, she has said that the guy has a pretty solid case. Will it delay AC3? Probably not.
 
I love how some people jump into bashing the guy without knowing any details. Newsflash: This shit happens way more than you think. Terminator, Avatar, you name it (and people do win cases like this, kids - check the credits of your favorite sci-fi movies someday).

The OP descriptions of the novel makes it pretty clear there may very well be more to this story than what a few angry fanboys may want to believe.
 
keltickennedy said:
I actually saw this one coming. My sister works for the law firm who is handling the case. Without getting into details, she has said that the guy has a pretty solid case. Will it delay AC3? Probably not.
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How? Doesn't sound the similarities between the two are particularly strong, and from what I can tell, this guy's book is a very small-scale, limited publication that Ubi probably had no access to.
 
How convenient that he decides to do this now with an upcoming big game in the franchise coming soon. Not that he isn't right but ehhhh........
 
Frankfurt said:
I love how some people jump into bashing the guy without knowing any details. Newsflash: This shit happens way more than you think. Terminator, Avatar, you name it (and people do win cases like this, kids - check the credits of your favorite sci-fi movies someday).

The OP descriptions of the novel makes it pretty clear there may very well be more to this story than what a few angry fanboys may want to believe.
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But I like videogames so this guy is trollin!
 
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