Gibson and Actvision in Guitar Hero dispute

[Dave W]

http://www.mi-pro.co.uk/news/29416/Gibson-claims-patent-violation

Gibson in litigation? I'm shocked! 

I don't know who's right, but leave it to corporate IP lawyers to try to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. 

[Barklessdog]

It going to be tough to win that case, as my understanding Gibson just had the idea for it and never marketed it?

[Dave W]

I don't know the details. But it's not like trademarks. You don't have to market a patent. No matter what most people believe, it's not an exclusive right to manufacture for a certain period of time, it's actually an exclusive right to keep anyone else from making it during the patent term.

There are companies out there that do nothing but buy patents for products they never intend to manufacture or processes they never intend to use. They make all their money by suing other companies for infringement. Google "patent troll" and I'm sure you'll find a lot about it.

[Darrol]

Gibson's patent is actually for playing an instrument along with a pre-recorded concert being viewed in a 3D headset type device. It sounds like it was meant to be with an actual musical instrument, not a plastic controller shaped like one.

[Barklessdog]

That sound like a stretch to me.

what I really can't understand is biting the hand that feeds you. Gibson licensed all there guitars in the game.I imagine they are getting money from that?

That's not enough???

[Dave W]

Apparently not!

You'd be amazed how litigious Gibson has been. You read about the PRS trademark suit because it actually went to trial. But they're often involved in actions at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB). And usually losing, but that hasn't stopped them from trying. I can just imagine how busy their legal department must be, sending out threatening letters.

[Darrol]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3167036

Last week we reported on ludicrous pending legal action between Gibson and Activision, for the patent to "simulate a musical performance" with technology. Our own cynical and amateur legal analysis thought the patent was vague and hard to enforce, but Activision's counter today doesn't stop there.

The company issued a statement calling the the lawsuit a "transparent end run around an impartial court," and saying the patent assertions "have no merit." It also claims that "Gibson waited three years to make its patent allegations and only did so after it became clear that Activision was not interested in renewing its marketing and support agreement with Gibson." Ouch. The statement closes by calling the suit "disingenuous."

As with any business-partnership-turned-lawsuit, this has a lot of potential to get ugly. Grab some popcorn; it could last a while.

[Dave W]

Interesting. Of course that's just their response. We don't know what kind of agreements are in force between the companies and what is supposed to happen if they're not renewed. Guess we'll eventually find out.

[Darrol]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23732204/

NASHVILLE, Tennessee - Gibson Guitar Corp. on Thursday sued Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and five other major retailers that sell the Activision "Guitar Hero" game, claiming it violates a patent it holds.

A federal lawsuit filed Monday claims Wal-Mart, Target Corp., Kmart, Amazon.com, GameStop Corp. and Toys "R" Us should stop selling the game.

Gibson has already tried to stop video game publisher Activision Inc. from selling all versions of the game, claiming it too closely matches a musical virtual-reality patent from 1999.

[Dave W]

Without knowing whether Gibson has a legal leg to stand on, my guess is that this is all about extracting a big financial settlement and future royalties, not about actually stopping sales of the product. Just like the NTP suit against RIM/Blackberry. One thing is almost certain, it won't be good PR for Gibson. But we've seen before that they don't care, and it hasn't seemed to hurt Gibson sales.

[Darrol]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/21/gibson-still-thinks-a-video-game-is-a-musical-instrument-sues/

We still think Gibson's attempt to claim that Guitar Hero violates its patent on "simulating a musical performance with a musical instrument" is totally unfounded and ridiculous for a number of reasons (it involves a "3-D headset," for one), but we can sort of see why the company is now suing Harmonix as well -- they're a Fender outfit, after all. The third in a series of petulant lawsuits filed by the notoriously litigious guitar maker over the patent claims Harmonix, Viacom, and Electronic Arts are all liable for Rock Band, but it's not clear if Gibson is going after just the guitars or the drum kit as well, which is probably closer to actually counting as an instrument. Of course, the patent itself hasn't changed since the last time we read it, and it's obvious that Gibson's going to have itself quite a challenge convincing the court that playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band involves musical instruments of any kind -- after all, it's just Simon, right?

[Dave W]

WTF -- Gibson is now suing Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Amazon.com, GameStop and Toys "R" Us s, according to this: http://news.sky.com/skynews/xml/article/tech/0,,91221-13588,00.html and this: http://www.mi-pro.co.uk/news/29434/Gibson-ups-the-stakes-in-compuetr-game-dispute