An American author is taking video game publisher Ubisoft to court with claims that the Assassin’s Creed series has breached his copyrights, Patent Arcade are reporting. John Beiswenger says his book “Link”, which was released in 2003, details a device similar to the Animus in Assassin’s Creed, and also includes mentions of assassins and regular religious references.

On top of the similarities in technology, the complaint points out that both works use the terms “ancestral memories”, “link”, “synchronize”, and “assassins” when talking about the technology and its intended use, and draws comparisons between Abstergo Industries from Assassin’s Creed with a corporation in Link called Med Diagnostics.

The complaint doesn’t only accuse Ubisoft, though, but also GameTrailers, who are being accused of causing up to $300,000 USD in damages based on the publication of two Assassin’s Creed trailers, named as “PlayStation Home Space Trailer” for Assassin’s Creed II and “Game Trailers: 420, Assassin’s Creed Revelations”.

Up to $900,000 USD of damages are being attributed to official strategy guides published by Ubisoft, as well as $300,000 USD attributed to the Assassin’s Creed Encyclopedia, and $600,000 USD attributed to the series of Assassin’s Creed comics. In total, Beiswenger wants $1.05M USD at minimum, and up to $5.25M USD if it’s found to be “wilful infringement”.

Beiswenger is also attempting to prevent Ubisoft and GameTrailers from releasing Assassin’s Creed III or any media related to the game, which is currently slated for launch on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U on October 31st. More details on the case, called John L. Beiswenger v. Ubisoft Entertainment, can be found on Patent Arcade here.