Lawsuit alleging copyright infringement in Assassin's Creed dropped, Gametrailers settles
Posted by Joystiq May 30 2012 01:40 GMT in Wii U
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Novelist John Beiswenger has dropped the lawsuit against Ubisoft, in which he alleged the Assassin's Creed universe stole ideas from one of his books, Link. Gametrailers, whom Beiswenger sued in the same case, settled with the author on May 18 under undisclosed terms.

Beiswenger voluntarily dismissed all action against Ubisoft before any formal adjudication on the validity of his claims could begin - the Internet made up its mind about his claims a while ago. Beiswenger has dropped the case, citing the expense of federal litigation:

"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; otherwise, the laws protecting them simply have no purpose," Beiswenger's official statement reads. "Regrettably, the resources required to defend those rights are unavailable to many individual creators. As a result, rampant infringement is occurring with impunity."

Beiswenger was seeking $5.25 million in damages and the potential cessation of all Assassin's Creed endeavors, including the third game currently due out in October. Beiswenger filed the dismissal "without prejudice," meaning he can pick up the claims and the case again in the future.

If he ever does, we don't think Ubisoft will sweat it too much; the Internet has already done most of the debunking already, unless Beiswenger can somehow prove that he owns the rights to "spiritual and biblical tones" or "assassinations."

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