We're not exactly clear on how Gibson's legal team managed to license all those brand names and
guitar designs to Activision for this many
Guitar Hero games before realizing that the company maybe-sorta had a patent on the idea, but here we are: Activision filed a lawsuit yesterday asking the US District Court for Central California to invalidate a 1999 Gibson patent on "simulating a musical performance," because apparently Gibson's bugging them about it since January. Wait, just January? Seriously, people, you'd have thought this would've come up by now. Anyway, Activision says that Gibson is still a "good partner," just that it "disagrees with the applicability of their patent and would like a legal determination on this." We're sure it would. Gibson's patent apparently involves playing an instrument of some kind along with a pre-recorded concert while wearing what is described as a "3-D headset," so there seems to be some overlap, but we'll see what the court says -- something tells us explaining Guitar Hero to the judge is going to be relatively amusing.
Update: On reading the patent, Gibson's system is designed to be used with a "musical instrument" -- and no matter what the
Guitar Zeros have to say, we don't think Guitar Hero controllers really qualify. It'll definitely be interesting to see what the court has to say about that, no? [Thanks, Matt G.]
Disclaimer: Nilay's a lawyer and a decent Guitar Hero player, but he's not your
lawyer, and none of this is legal advice or analysis.
Read - Article on lawsuit
Read - Gibson patent
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mymaclife @ Mar 12th 2008 5:09PM
If they're are not careful someone's going end up a Guitar Villain!
Kris @ Mar 12th 2008 5:13PM
Or a Cheeeeeeeeesy commentor
phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 5:51PM
aww shucks mymaclife, bad ego day?
brad @ Mar 12th 2008 5:15PM
i say they draw a song out of a hat, play it on expert, who ever gets the higher score wins
Esat @ Mar 12th 2008 5:29PM
Prepare to be highest ranked Sir.
Leo @ Mar 13th 2008 8:09AM
...or they could agree to start casually emailing each other and building a fake friendship and whomever gets rick rolled first loses
Rynth @ Mar 13th 2008 9:33AM
I say the first one to get a 100% on expert Dragonforce wins...
Luigi193 @ Mar 12th 2008 5:19PM
I always look forward to your disclaimers Nilay!
Alex Padilla @ Mar 12th 2008 5:20PM
Dubious patent filings with no intention to bring them to the light of day ftw!
Can't Gibson just be happy with the fact that their guitar models are used for what is quite possibly the greatest party game ever?
mymaclife @ Mar 12th 2008 5:22PM
The greatest party game ever? Hyperbole I think or you've never played strip poker.
Macroy @ Mar 12th 2008 5:32PM
Apparently YOU'VE never played Strip Guitar Hero.
Alex Padilla @ Mar 12th 2008 5:33PM
I speak in regards to videogames.
Jeremiah Zachary Hoffman @ Mar 12th 2008 5:49PM
strip poker definitly takes the cake.
phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 5:53PM
strip poker, schtrip poker. talk about anticlimax! whatcha gonna do at the end, bust out an orgy? i know that seeing boobies is the be all end all fantasy for an engadget poster but cmon now ;p
teej @ Mar 12th 2008 6:21PM
guitar hero ruins parties because some fkers never get off the damn tv. meanwhile, people stop playing beer pong just to go watch some noobs play GH.
Wii Sports is easily one of the best, as well as Fusion Frenzy (only two buttons- easy).
Curtis the Claw: Brawl Code 1075-0441-3284 @ Mar 12th 2008 7:02PM
You did not just put "best" and "Fusion Frenzy" in the same sentence.
mabhatter @ Mar 13th 2008 1:10AM
the patent would be more for PC software teaching products. You could plug in the real guitar and play while the computer instructs. That could be real innovation. But it's not what guitar hero does by a mile.
Mystic Alpaca @ Mar 12th 2008 5:26PM
Well I am no expert, however these are not musical instruments; they are game controllers that are fashioned to look like an instrument.
Hell the Wii looks like you have to plug the Wii controller into the guitar shaped frame to play the game.
Mario @ Mar 12th 2008 5:33PM
Looks like? That would be exactly what you do.
Michael @ Mar 12th 2008 5:37PM
And then when game controllers come in, Konami has patents on those that they've already worked out with Activision.
andy @ Mar 12th 2008 5:37PM
The musings of those who have no concept of what a patent is or does, how to read one or interpret its claims, and fail to even read someone else's interpretation of the complaint are incredibly enlightening as to the level of legal knowledge reading comprehension in the technical community.
I am prepared to be dazzled.
I may even have to get a drink for this one. I think Guitar Hero may bring out all of the one armed chair quarterbacks on the Internet.
phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 5:55PM
I am prepared to be enlightened by your Superior Legal Analysis.
Reader @ Mar 12th 2008 6:06PM
I think there's already a patent on being an arrogant douche, I'd be careful.
flippo @ Mar 12th 2008 6:08PM
Having read you're posts I doubt you're prepared to be enlightened by anyone.
phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 6:10PM
ouch flippo, you know that hurts deep inside when you sling grammatically incorrect non sequiturs at me
phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 6:22PM
oh, hey flippo, i didn't realize today was your first day at engadget! welcome! sorry you had to waste your first post flaming me for no reason. unless flippo is really andy's alternate posting name =)
p.s. andy/hungry hungry flippo.. i'm still waiting for you to pwn all use legal n00bs here
producerism @ Mar 12th 2008 6:28PM
ever since Gibson decided to give Tonedeff the cold shoulder, they have been dead to me.
http://blog.qn5.com/2008/general/rant-gibson-hates-hip-hop
phanbouy @ Mar 12th 2008 6:56PM
i'm sad to read that... i really like the action on a Les Paul too. ah well... my friend's got plenty of strats to play, guess i'll finally break down and go strat
AsgardTeaParty @ Mar 13th 2008 10:53AM
Actually the CEO himself took care of this guy. Check the updates on this. Gibson's a big company. Sometimes things get lost in the mix. This guy actually got a check in the mail the next day.
CaptSaltyJack @ Mar 12th 2008 6:50PM
Gibson's patent is legit. Just last week they sued me for playing air guitar in a hotel lobby.
umm....hello??? @ Mar 12th 2008 6:53PM
heh....welcome to America--former home of the Whopper, now home of the Lawsuit.
Striker @ Mar 12th 2008 9:42PM
Honestly, I would be using the X-Plorer or the Les Paul, I love the custom cherry swirl finish and the zakk wilde finishes.
Striker @ Mar 12th 2008 7:14PM
Hopefully this happens...
Gibson, pissed at AV, demands that their products be removed from future Guitar Hero games. Harmonix, willing to pay royalty, makes a deal with Gibson to put Gibson and Epiphone guitars in Rock Band. There you have it, the best possible outcome lol
thatkidmattt @ Mar 12th 2008 9:16PM
Only if they use the SG. I never much enjoyed the looks of the Les Paul (and lets face it... the sound the actual guitar makes is totally inconsequential to the game).
John Mactavish @ Mar 12th 2008 7:22PM
i have a feeling maybe Gibson was really after Guitar Rising...real guitar + simulated performance.
Get ready for it Game Tank devs...so sorry for u guys
henry @ Mar 12th 2008 8:15PM
WOW! this will be EXTREMELY fun to watch. Henry Juskiewicz and his army of lawyers could quite possibly have finally bitten off more than they can chew. that guy is an evil evil man who has been quoted before as saying "i have an army of lawyers and i love to use them." Just google the name and read the horror stories of what that guy has done to the companies they have bought... Oberheim, Opcode, Viscount, and now TC Electronics....it goes on and on.
i hope activision sticks it to them.
blinkexxists @ Mar 12th 2008 9:02PM
Henry Juskiewicz. Evil man or a man who is just EXCELLENT at his job?
Clients dont pay lawyers to lose.
henry @ Mar 12th 2008 9:20PM
clients also dont pay their lawyers to harass defendents into literal insanity. seriously, check into it. you'll be quite shocked.
:D @ Mar 12th 2008 9:16PM
I am sure everybody has noticed that a company from Japan released a series of arcade game called "Guitar freaks" since 1999. This game uses 3 buttons on a stratocaster style guitar controller (and similar but much simpler interface than GH).
I am not sure if the company Konami (Benami) came out this idea first, but it is clear that Activision or Gibson should not take the whole credit. Especially when considering the Gibson patent was filed in 1999, the same year Guitar Freaks first released...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuitarFreaks
Phil @ Mar 13th 2008 5:04AM
Maybe we'll have a Strat in the next iteration of the game.......
Les Paul's are great instruments but they never look right with a whammy bar....lol
Seanross @ Mar 13th 2008 5:26AM
I'll never understand why companies/artists wait years to cry foul on patent/copyright infringement. They don't care about their rights being violated, or else they would've tried to put a stop to it right away, Its moreso because they're missing out on all the money being made, they just wanna muscle in on the action any way possible.
PEZ @ Mar 13th 2008 6:50AM
I think these music simulators are for losers with a dead dream.
Learn not to play something real asso's.
AHHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHA!
Brian! @ Mar 13th 2008 12:47PM
I realize the idea of a patent is to protect the inventor's ideas... but the idea that someone would patent (and win it) a VR concert experience/game thing - but then never build or market the thing - then when someone builds something similar sue them?
The current patent system is just like the domain name system. Try to grab good names/patents which you, yourself, will never use until someone else wants that name/patent for a real use - then Sell/Sue!
I think that if you patent something, you have to have a product using it for sale or in active business use within a couple years of the patent. After your product stops production, there is a grace of a few years but then your patent goes away.
Eric @ Mar 13th 2008 11:53PM
Let's say that Gibson doesn't licence the logo or guitar designs for future games... where does Activision go?
Fender is already dealing with Rock Band... yeah, they could go with PRS or something, but Gibson and Fender are the two "great American guitar" companies.