Assassin's Creed infringement case comes to a halt as author dismisses charges

After suing Ubisoft and Gametrailers over the popular Assassin's Creed series earlier this year, American author John L. Beiswenger has decided to step away from the legal proceedings, bringing the case to an end -- for now, at least. Beiswenger has settled with Gametrailers out of court, and has dismissed his charges against Ubisoft, noting that he has chosen to focus his financial resources on some "unrelated business matters." Beiswenger sued Ubisoft for copyright infringement in April, claiming that the publisher's Assassin's Creed series borrowed ideas from his 2002 novel, Link. Alongside these charges, he also sued Gametrailers for its numerous online videos relating to the successful Ubisoft franchise. Both the novel and the Assassin's Creed series feature science fiction devices that allow characters to relive memories through the eyes of their ancestors, and Beiswenger had claimed that Ubisoft and Gametrailers were distributing and making money off of ideas that were lifted from his prior work. While this particular case has come to an end, Beiswenger dismissed his charges against Ubisoft without prejudice, which means that he can preserve his claims against Ubisoft if he chooses to return to court. For now, however, his representative says that he has chosen to focus on other matters. Beiswenger's legal representative, Kelley Clements Keller, said, "My client's decision to exercise his right to voluntarily dismiss the action, without prejudice, in no way diminishes his stalwart conviction in the merit of his claims against Ubisoft. He is unwavering in his belief that many key components of the Assassin's Creed video game franchise infringe on many key components of his novel, Link." The dismissal of this case spells good news for Ubisoft, as the company plans to debut its latest game in series, Assassin's Creed III, later this year.