There's no Such Thing as an Original Idea.
April 23, 2012
Been awhile since Altaïr showed up, but in light of resent events here he is. So apparently a lesser know author, John L. Beiswenger is suing Ubisoft over claims that Assassin's Creed borrows heavily from his book Link. As part of the lawsuit he is seeking at least $1,000,000 and barring the release of Assassin's Creed 3. I obviously find his claims highly dubious. Not forgetting the fact I pointed out a few weeks back that there's no such thing as a completely original idea, there are a few more warning signs that point have the scent of shenanigans.
First off Beiswenger isn't the most well known author. If Ubisoft lifted elements from a Stephen King book it would be one thing, but Beiswenger is so unknown he doesn't even have a wikipedia page. While doing research on this subject the only pages connected to Beiswenger I could find were half a dozen of articles about the lawsuit, Beiswenger's personal website and the Amazon page for his novel Link, and that probably only showed up due to all the traffic it's getting from gamers trolling the hell out of it.
Secondly, why has he waited until know to sue? His book can out with little pomp and circumstance in 2003, while Assassin's Creed come out in 2007, sold millions of copies, spawned a series consisting of seven games, three novels, a comic series, and a proposed theatrical film. And Beiswenger waits until now to sue, six years after the fact?
Finally, being such a short print run book I doubt it was translated in the French. I say this because the team behind Assassin's Creed was a largely French one, and while I'm sure they can read English just fine, they're less likely to have even read Beiswenger's book. The did however read Alamut, a novel by Vladimir Bartol that is a pseudohistorical allogory about the real life order of assassin's. Ubisoft has clearly stated that the characters and setting of the original Assassin's Creed were inspired by Bartol's Alamut, and I have to admit, my fondness for Assassin's Creed lead me to purchase a copy of Alamut, which I found to be an enjoyable read. Sadly I don't think many people will be saying that about Beiswenger's work, not after how he's handled the situation.