By on 19 Apr, 2012 at 12:30 PM
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Ubisoft Sued Over The Animus For Copyright Infringement

Ubisoft Sued Over The Animus For Copyright Infringement

John L. Beiswenger is a research engineer and science-fiction author who claims that Ubisoft pinched the idea for Assassin’s Creed from his novel, Link. He certainly isn’t the most acclaimed sci-fi writer of our time so it’s doubtful that Ubisoft even knew his book existed but let’s hear what the man has to say.

Beiwenger’s novel is part sci-fi, part theoretical science and delves into using a “Bio-synchronizer” which allows ancestral memories to be “accessed, recalled, relived and re-experienced.” Sounds familiar, no? Now consider that Link was published 4 years before Assassin’s Creed was first released.

“If John Wilkes Booth fathered a child after he assassinated Lincoln, and we found a descendant alive today, we could place Booth at the scene and perhaps smell the gunpowder. Ancestral memories? As far back as you want,” reads an excerpt from the novel.

Above and beyond this, Beiswenger claims that there are strong thematic similarities between the two intellectual properties. In particular “spiritual and biblical tones, with references made to Jesus and God, the Garden of Eden, and forbidden fruit”, as well as the reliance on “accurate historical moments through their ancestors’ memories”.

The writer claims: “Ubisoft have directly copied, and directly and contributorily infringed on the whole of Plaintiff’s copyrighted work” with the release of games, guides, comic book series and trailers.

In what is best described as a delayed reaction to a game that was made 5 years ago or a way to make a quick buck, Beiswenger is suing Ubisoft for copyright infringement and is looking for “damages in an amount not less than $1.05 million.” That figure goes up to $5.25 million if the judge rules in his favour. In the interim, he’s trying his damnedest to make sure that Assassin’s Creed III and any related products are not released.

And now for the rebuttal. Whether Ubisoft drew from Beiswenger’s work or not is irrelevant because the two works are completely different media. It’s like me writing a short story based on a painting I saw and the artist suing me for copyright infringement. Ubisoft may have taken inspiration from the book and used it as a platform on which to build the premise of their game but there is so much else going and so much around that that Beiswenger really has no claim to it.

The fact that Beiswenger took so long is surely testament to the fact that he doesn’t care about copyright infringement so much as he does about money which is precisely why he would wait until the franchise is worth as much as it is. You don’t exactly see Isaac Asimov, or whoever owns the rights to his works, suing everybody left, right and centre who decides to put sentient robots in their movies or games. It would be a very different story if AC was a book but it isn’t, not primarily at any rate since books of the games do exist.

If you really want to see copyright infringement, take a gander at the Eragon series of books and notice the myriad of similarities to Star Wars. It’s so clear that you can draw straight comparisons with characters and events and even the colours of the dragons correspond to colours of various character’s lightsabres. Hell, it’s Star Wars with dragons.

I find it absurd that Beiswenger has a leg to stand on in this lawsuit given how starkly different the two mediums are. Besides, writers for things such as games and movies take inspiration from books all the time because even if you do borrow an idea or concept, it’s a completely different medium and you’re using/portraying in a completely different way.

Source: Games Industry
Via: CVG

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Name: A-G Sonday
Location: Cape Town
Position: Editor, News

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  • http://www.facebook.com/nanonyous Theo Lubbe

    Actually, medium doesn’t matter for a claim like this – the claim is about the IP, which for an interactive product, is wholly relevant in this case.

    Example; you are not allowed to create a board-game based on the Harry Potter books, even if you do not use the same names, but do use all the same elements to construct the premise of your board-game. Reason being that the IP has been created ‘for you’ already, all you’re doing is changing names.

    It’s also important to note that just because people like you are familiar with the AC franchise and its premise, that doesn’t automatically mean anyone else is. Want a more specific explanation?

    I played through AC1 from beginning to end for the first time last week. I’d several times before gotten to the third or fourth assassination and still didn’t know what the hell was going on other than that I was some ancestor of some dude killing templars or some shit. I didn’t have a single clue as to the whole garden of eden concept until I actually finished the game (well, practically).

    Absolutely nothing I knew of AC1 or the sequels indicated to me in the slightest that there was any religious/spiritual overtone or that there was a concept of a garden of eden. Hell, until I actually began playing AC1, I didn’t even understand what the whole ‘animus’ thing was about – all I knew was there was something about memories and glitches you could interact with – I didn’t realise the chop who’s body these memories were being sucked out of had to be in some kind of chair, bed or whatever until I saw it in the game.

    So how can you expect some little or unknown author who may have zero interest in videogames and who’s friends, family and colleagues may either similarly have no interest in videogames, and/or little enough to have ever read his book, heard what the Assassin’s Creed story is about (or have played them themselves), and to make some kind of connection between the two and thus would likely never have bothered informing him, to find out about this the moment the franchise is up and going, let alone the first game even announced?

    If he truly cared only about making money, he’d instead be suing for far more – reason being that since the game is likely to be far more popular than his book, despite the fact his book came out first, people that have played the AC series are far less likely to buy (not read, buy – the money’s what matters here, after all) his book, so he’s effectively lost some potential buyers in the process.

    • AG_Sonday

      Thanks for clarifying that point, I’m no good with laws, that’s Dean’s forte :P

      Now that you’ve explained it, that does make sense. The thing is you have to listen very carefully to the dialogue in Ac 1 to pick up all the other things going such as the subverted themes and concepts and even the explanation of the Animus system. They explain it a bit better in AC II but I distinctly recall Vidic explaining the way it works in broad terms to Desmond.

      Trouble is that the animus may be a narrative mechanic that helps drive the game but it isn’t copyright infringement in my opinion because that isn’t the be all and end all of the game. There’s a whole plot, sometimes two parallel plots which define the game along with tons of gameplay and more. The animus mechanic is merely a means to an end as far as AC goes. It’s a way of tying the two narratives together. Thus, it isn’t like Ubisoft just took the author’s book and coded it into a game, they merely used a cocnept that he outlined within his novel.

      Agreed though, I’m going to see if I can find his book and judge for myself. I’m sure |Ubisoft and this guy weren’t the firt to come up with the idea of genetic memory though. I read somewhere that Ubisoft got the inspiration somewhere else but can’t recall where I read it or if I did in fact read that.

    • http://www.facebook.com/nanonyous Theo Lubbe

      Genetic memory is a real and studied concept/theory. Discovery channel had a 3-part miniseries on it in 2007(?) or so. That might be why it seems familiar to you.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_memory_%28psychology%29

    • AG_Sonday

       Lol and thanks again. I knew I saw or read it somewhere but I was just too tired to remember right now.