Guitar Hero publisher sued by Gibson Guitar

Mike Bantick
Thursday, 13 March 2008 04:34

Your IT - Entertainment

Activision has been sued by Gibson Guitar, their partner in the highly successful Guitar Hero video game franchise.

According to a report from Reuters , despite or perhaps because of, the success of the Guitar Hero partnership, it seems Gibson Guitar is a little miffed about the way the game is played.

At its heart, all the Guitar Heroes to date are simple games, requiring the player to use fret and strum buttons on their replica Gibson Guitar game peripheral in time with falling notes on the screen.

A big part of the game experience is with the guitar peripheral itself, which, though sporting multicoloured buttons on the neck, adds much to the immersion into rock god fantasies of the players.

In the Reuters article, Gibson are after Activison for violating a 1999 patent for technology to simulate a musical performance.  "Based on our preliminary analysis, the 'Guitar Hero' software (including any expansion packs) and the guitar controller provided by Activision being used as a musical instrument (packaged with the software or sold standalone) are covered by the ... patent," Gibson's law firm said in its Jan. 7 letter to Activision.

Gibson are asking Activision to pay further licensing for the gaming franchise, or cease sales.  Activision have filed a counter lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Central California.

"Gibson is a good partner, and we have a great deal of respect for them. We disagree with the applicability of their patent and would like a legal determination on this," Activision general counsel George Rose said in a statement.

Activison are also quoted as stating that by leaving the lawsuit action for three years, the guitar maker has granted implied license for the technology