Assassin's Theft

Ubisoft risikerer at komme for retten i disse dage grundet anklager af den værste slags: Plagiat. John Beiswenger, forfatteren til Link, hævder nemlig, at Ubisoft velvidende har stjålet historieelementer fra hans bog og udgivet Assassin's Creed som et originalt værk. Begge værker har slående ligheder i form af tidsrejser, hvor protagonisten oplever fortiden via en forfaders hukommelse, og begge har maskiner, som kan give adgang til disse minder. Både spillet og bogen er ligeledes religiøse af natur og har spirituelle toner.

"Ubisoft have directly copied, and directly and contributorily infringed on the whole of Plaintiff’s copyrighted work", fastslår søgsmålet. John Beiswenger kræver $1.05 millioner og hele $5.25 milloner, hvis retten vurderer, at Ubisoft havde kendskab til tyveriet. Ydermere vil udgivelsen af det længe-ventede Assassin's Creed III samt relaterede produkter blive udskudt på ubestemt tid. Link blev udgivet i 2003 og er altså fra før det oprindelige Assassin's Creed.

Ubisoft har ingen kommentarer på nuværende tidspunkt. Min holdning er altid den, at man skal ære den, som æres bør. Hvis det er John Beiswengers originale ide, og Ubisoft i så fald har stjålet elementer fra bogen, så skal de holdes ansvarlige for deres handlinger. Spørgsmålet hviler nok mest i, om de velvidende har gjort det eller ej. Tiden vil vise, hvad retten vurderer, og jeg er spændt på at se følgerne for Ubisofts, utvivlsomt, mest succesfulde franchise. Eller er det nu også helt deres?

The highly successful developer and publisher, Ubisoft, risks going to court over claims of theft. John Beiswenger, author of Link, has filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft claiming that they have knowingly stolen ideas from his book and used them in Assassin's Creed. Both the game and the book has strikingly similar elements including time travel through ancestral memory and machines that can access these memories. Both are also very religious and spiritual in nature and as such it seems likely that some sort of theft has occured.

John Beiswenger demands up to $5.25 million if the court finds Ubisoft guilty of plagiarism and the lawsuit makes it clear: "Ubisoft have directly copied, and directly and contributorily infringed on the whole of Plaintiff’s copyrighted work". Ubisoft has no comments on this matter as of this moment but it will be interesting to see what will happen to their most successful franchise. Or is it really theirs? Time will tell.

I strongly believe that honour should fall upon those who derserve it. If Ubisoft indeed has stolen from Beiswenger's work then it is clear that he should be compensated and aknowledged as the original creator of these elements. Ubisoft has some serious explaining to do but we must remember that they are not the devil made manifest. I am sure that they will do the right thing in this, quite frankly, embarrassing matter and come out on top.