The lights are on
While author John Beiswenger, who claimed Ubisoft had stolen elements of his novel Link when it created the Assassin's Creed series, had recently ended his lawsuit against the company, the story might not be over.
According to Gamasutra, Ubisoft has filed a complaint against Beiswenger and wants a ruling that his claims of copyright infringement were "entirely meritless."
If you're wondering why Ubisoft is still pursuing legal action on a lawsuit that has been withdrawn, there is a good reason. Beiswenger's lawsuit was ended "without prejudice" -- which means that he was free to make claims of copyright infringement against Ubisoft anytime in the future.
In a statement, an Ubisoft representative said, "The plaintiff in the case alleging copyright infringement by Ubisoft has dropped his claim, without settlement. Ubisoft believes this suit was frivolous and without merit, and is seeking a ruling to prevent future related claims. We are proud of our creative teams and will continue to vigorously defend the intellectual property they develop."
If Ubisoft is successful in getting a ruling that the original suit was meritless, the door will be closed to further legal action on Beiswenger's part.
This whole thing is getting more complicated than the plot to the Assassin's Creed series itself -- or the plot to Beiswenger's Link, depending on who you believe.
Email the author Matt Helgeson, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.
This should be interesting
Genetic memory time travel was first explored to my knowledge in Altered States, and was posited before that by many philosophers, scientists, and new age flakes.
This guy deserves to have his arse smacked for the trouble he caused.
It's possible that Ubisoft thought up the premise of the AC series entirely on their own without any outside inspiration...
...just as it's possible that someone at Ubisoft read this guy's books and said, "Hey, this would make for a pretty cool game."
God only knows :\
This is the song that never ends.
I wonder how easy it is to just come up with an idea and have it resemble someone else's so much that you get sued? After all, there is nothing new under the sun, or so they say.