Gibson Loses Guitar Hero Lawsuit
A California court has thrown out a lawsuit filed by legendary guitar maker Gibson against Activision for allegedly violating a patent with their Guitar Hero games. Gibson claimed that a 1999 patent on technology that simulates a musical performance with a 3-D headset and speakers was illegally similar to the pretend instrumentation of the popular rhythm game. This despite the fact that Guitar Hero doesn’t use a 3-D headset and doesn’t use real instruments like Gibson’s patent calls for.
This has been a weird legal tangle for a few reasons. Aside from the obvious baselessness of the claim, Gibson filed this lawsuit after they began negotiating with Activision to license Guitar Hero peripherals in the shapes of classic Gibson designs. Also, at one point during the proceedings, Gibson claimed that plastic guitar controllers should be considered actual musical instruments since they make a clicky sound. By that rationale, my simultaneous typing and rocking in my desk chair should qualify me as a multi-instrumentalist. Every time I staple a stack of papers, I feel just like Jimmy Page!
No word on how this lawsuit affects any other dealings between Gibson and Activision, but it’s a safe bet to assume Gibson’s plans for filing a similar lawsuit against the makers of Rock Band will be wisely second guessed.
Source: Digital Trends
#1 – Scott Lee on March 2nd, 2009 2:56 pm
LAWL! You should seet up a gig. People will tavel thousands of miles to see you …preform.
#2 – Scott Moore on March 6th, 2009 12:36 pm
As a small music instrument retailer, I’m happy to see the courts shut down Gibson’s case. However, what most people don’t know is that Gibson uses litigation as advertising. They did it with PRS Guitars (and lost), Ibanez guitars (Ibanez backed down), and many others. This Guitar Hero lawsuit was all about publicity and they got it. Unfortunately, they’ve made a mockery of their image and popularity Slash and others rebuilt for them in the 80’s. Let’s hope the public responds as well.
#3 – Rob on April 20th, 2009 8:38 am
I don’t think Gibson had a legitimate case, but the publicity is good. Maybe they wanted to cash in on this guitar hero madness. They should be begging to be part of Guitar Hero.