Gibson's Rock Band lawsuit ends in settlement, one way or another

Back in 2008, Gibson Guitar hoped to cash in on the Rock Band craze with a slate of patent infringement lawsuits of dubious quality, and though the firm lost to Activision a year later, its suits against Harmonix, Electronic Arts, Viacom, and six major retailers stirred something in Nashville's rock gods. Though exact terms weren't disclosed, the parties reached a settlement in a Tennessee federal court this week, and plan to bring the lawsuit to an end by June 14th. Meanwhile, we hear Harmonix v. Konami is meeting a similar end; retailers should be able to sell cheap plastic guitars with a infinitesimally cleaner conscience in a little over three months.

[HurricaneDC Posted Jun 9th 2010 6:17PM]

I'm going to patent breathing, blood circulation, and neurotransmitters.

[Rodeok69 Posted Jun 9th 2010 6:36PM]

@Fragmented Not all settlements are an admittance of case viability. Ironically, you started the stupid comments.

[BigJayDogg3 Posted Jun 9th 2010 6:23PM]

Gibson shouldn't have gotten a penny. Rock Band doesn't even use Gibson guitars (they're Fender in case you didn't know).

I think this whole "everybody suing everyone else" situation is a mite bit ridiculous.

[Booksmart Devil Posted Jun 9th 2010 6:26PM]

Yet another reason why Fender > Gibson. :)

[max3000 Posted Jun 9th 2010 7:38PM]

@Booksmart Devil They're both a greedy corporation with CEOs who know nothing about guitars and only care about quantity not quality.

PRS all the way.

[xJavonta Posted Jun 9th 2010 6:35PM]

Exactly. Gibson is full of sh*t. How is Harmonix infringing on patents? Sure they used Gibson guitars in Guitar Hero 1 and 2, but that franchise no longer belongs to them, it belongs to Activision, who should
take full responsibility for anything Guitar Hero related. Give it up Gibson, you can't win!
So go play your overpriced guitars, let us rock out with a cheap plastic knockoffs. And Konami cant get mad because Harmonix made the music game genre popular in the US, They should have wised up.

[Regula Oblique Posted Jun 9th 2010 8:09PM]

@wrathkind I was only pointing out the obvious of the article and clearly by my "lol" I was joking and not celebrating or speaking of Apples inability. It was plainly A JOKE. But it seems I cant even do that without someone getting their panties in a knot because they cant take a joke or understand sarcasm. Im a fan of all technology, I just wish people like you would lighten up and stop being so aggressive.

[wrathkind Posted Jun 9th 2010 8:49PM]

@Regula Oblique

re: "I just wish people like you would lighten up and stop being so aggressive."

WAT?! Look, I got that you were joking in your first reply to Prfrma, which is why I didn't respond to that post. I reacted to your second reply because I just wanted to be clear that you, an Android supporter, seemed to be implying that hacking would be the purview of the iPhone crowd rather than Android's.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. Even though you were the one calling everyone else bitter and hurling accusations of fanboyism, I'm sorry you felt attacked. Let me just say this: if you don't like receiving negative reactions to your comments, it's probably best not to lay down flamebait.

[Regula Oblique Posted Jun 9th 2010 9:00PM]

@wrathkind I never said I felt attacked lol, and I didn't leave flamebait as I said I was joking. I said that you seemed bitter and called you a fanboy because that's how your comment came across as to me, all I ment by it was to calm down and stop getting uptight its only phones and plus the article is gone so this is all futile but ill continue to express my opinions and comment like I always have. So im sorry if I hurt your feelings.

over and out this is my last transmission...to this wack convo :)

[wrathkind Posted Jun 9th 2010 9:28PM]

@Regula Oblique

re: "I never said I felt attacked"

:-/ -_- ".... it seems I cant even do that without someone getting their panties in a knot .... lighten up and stop being so aggressive."

re: "im sorry if I hurt your feelings."

:-/ X-D

[Regula Oblique Posted Jun 9th 2010 8:12PM]

@Regula Oblique An my bad for comment thread hijacking, how rude of me. Good looking on the settlement Gibson!

[HurricaneDC Posted Jun 9th 2010 8:27PM]

What's kinda ironic is that actual musicians/groups don't have a problem with these games. It's just the dinosaurs in charge of Gibson who do.