Novelist suing over Assassin's Creed has his lawyer respond to gamer rage
Author John Beiswenger poked the sleeping dragon that is the Internet when he filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft, claiming the Assassin's Creed franchise infringes on copyrights in his novel, Link. Namely, Beiswenger says Assassin's Creed stole themes such as "assassinations," "spiritual and biblical tones" and a battle between good and evil from Link, which was published five years prior to the first Assassin's Creed title.
Beiswenger is seeking up to $5.25 million in damages. The lawsuit could also delay the release of Assassin's Creed 3, a fact that wiped the grins from many a gamer's face and set a few (hundred) to review-bombing Beiswenger's Amazon pages.
Beiswenger's lawyer, Kelley Keller, has now 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."
Keller says she believes the similarities in Link and Assassin's Creed are more than coincidence and that despite the five-year delay in filing charges, the lawsuit was brought within an applicable time period.
We don't know about you guys, but the only applicable time periods we see here are the American Revolution, and October 2012.
