Ubisoft and Gametrailers sued over alleged Assassin’s Creed copyright infringement

Assassin’s Creed did seem like a pretty original concept when it was first introduced (those who play the game know what I’m talking about), but apparently author John Beiswenger doesn’t think so. He has since filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft and Gametrailers alleging that the Assassin’s Creed franchise “stole” core ideas from his novel, Link. The novel was published in 2002 while the game only arrived in 2007.

According to Beiswenger, he claims that several aspects of the game were stolen ideas from his book. One of them includes the Animus device which he claims is a direct copy of his Link device that allows users to access ancestral memories and relive specific moments in history. Not to mention his novel apparently contains discussion about assassination and has spiritual and biblical tones as well.

John Beiswenger is currently seeking up to $5.25 million in damages and is looking for a possible injunction to prevent further copyright infringement. Will his lawsuit hold up? We personally haven’t read Beiswenger’s book yet so we can’t really compare, but if any of our readers has, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Assassin's Creed, Legal, Ubisoft