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Author drops Assassin's Creed copyright lawsuit

No sign of Illuminati involvement.

American author John L. Beiswenger has dropped his lawsuit with Ubisoft after he claimed the Assassin's Creed series stole ideas from his book, Link.

Gametrailers, which was also cited in the lawsuit, chose to settle with Beiswenger for an undisclosed amount.

Beiswenger claimed that "a link device and process whereby ancestral memories can be accessed, recalled, relived, and re-experienced by the user" was his idea and that the Assassin's Creed series was profiting from it.

He indicted Gametrailers as well for making money off hosting numerous online videos of the series. He sought $5.25 million in damages as well as a halt on the forthcoming Assassin's Creed 3.

Legal representative for Beiswenger, Kelley Clements Keller, claimed: "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. We believe Ubisoft has engaged in egregious acts of copyright infringement and, should he choose to seek redress through the courts in the future, we remain confident that a trier of fact would agree."

Since Beiswenger filed his dismissal without prejudice, he attains the right to preserve his claim if he decides to continue the lawsuit at a later date. In the meantime, Beiswenger has decided to allocate the resources he was planning to use on legal action towards "unrelated business matters".

Beiswenger issued the following official statement: "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. Regrettably, the resources required to defend those rights are unavailable to many individual creators. As a result, rampant infringement is occurring with impunity."

Assassin's Creed protagonist Desmond Miles will continue to relive his ancestor's memories in the forthcoming Assassin's Creed 3 due 30th October 2012 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.