Guitar Maker gets litigious on rock video games ….
vs. 
You’d think that a video game that has the potential of introducing your musical instruments to a whole new (and old) generation of budding musicians would be a God send for a company like Gibson Guitar, only the rock staple manufacturer is suing anyone associated with Rock Band or Guitar Hero instead. Wow. Talk about biting the new hand that feeds you.
What I don’t really get is, how did Gibson manage to enter into a marketing agreement with Activision for a Gibson Guitar Hero interface and then after it gets insanely popular decide that Activision is violating Gibson’s own patent over a similar idea? But that seems to be the case.
Activision, on the other hand is seeking injunctive relief and asking that the courts invalidate Gibson’s 1999 patent on “simulating a musical performance.” There’s only one hitch with Gibson’s argument that Activision isn’t playing cricket. The Gibson patent is designed to “play an instrument of some kind along with a pre-recorded concert while wearing what is described as a “3-D headset.” Last time I checked, the interface for Guitar Hero and Rock Band are video game controllers.
Apple meet Orange. Yummy fruit though.
Hat Tip: engadget
Tags: Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Video Game news