Gibson sues Guitar Hero

[GHWelles]

The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that Gibson has sued Activision for patent infringment over the Guitar Hero Game.

According to the article, Gibson receives royalties from Activision for licensing Gibson trademarks for use in the Guitar Hero game. Activision notified Gibson on March 10th that Activision did not want to renew the licensing Agreement.

Gibson has now sued Activision on a ten year old patent for a concert simulation product, claiming the Activision game infringes the patent. Guitar Hero has generated $1 Billlion in sales in North America alone.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Well, if you can't make money selling over priced sub-par quality control instruments....

 

[Beth]

The phrase "cutting off their nose to spite their face" comes to mind...

 

[73h Nils]

Well, if you can't make money selling over priced sub-par quality control instruments....

I lol'd. Good one.

Yeesh, this is something else. Does it say why Activision doesn't want to renew the licencing agreement? That seems strange. It's not like they're all of a sudden going to have to update all new copies of the game with no-name guitars, or are they? That's probably really far off, but, whatever. Interesting story.

 

[beej]

Boy do I love the US patent system. Where once it made sense ...

(I just filed for a bunch myself for my startup. You have to have something for a counter suit when jokers like that come at you.)

 

[Astrofreq]

Ever since Barnstorming, Activision went downhill.

 

[KungFu Grip]

And there's still loads and loads of people who'll pay Gibson $4000 for a Les Paul.

It truly boggles the mind.

 

[Lou]

Ever since Barnstorming, Activision went downhill.

LOL!

Well, I supppose they could stop production on current offerings and exclude gibson guitars for future releases. I wouldn't care if the game had no-name guitars or products mentioned.

 

[Dante]

"Guitar Hero: the ones that matter" featuring music from deep purple, dixie dregs, dream theater, toto...

mwahahahahaha, sorry, wagagaghahaha!!!

 

[Gitguru]

How anyone can sue somone for advertising them for free is beyond me. If anything Gibson should pay activison!

 

[Beach Radio]

Ever since Barnstorming, Activision went downhill.

I thought it was after Keystone Kapers...
Keystone Kapers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Sub1 Zero]

My question for Wonderdog; is this case even winnable? It appears to me that there's just a little bit opportunism to it.

I'm hoping to get into law school, so this is interesting to me

 

[SteveB]

Ever since Barnstorming, Activision went downhill.

I rather liked "the Dreadnought Factor" on Intellivision.

On topic, I hope the next version of GH has only Music Man guitars!

Hey.. wait a second.. GH Welles.. I never knew Wonderdog's name was Guitar Hero!

 

[www.lamusic.ca]

They're still just trying to catch up after losing to PRS a few years back.

 

[Astrofreq]

I thought it was after Keystone Kapers...
Keystone Kapers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EXCELLENT! I forgot about that one! What about Kaboom!

Kaboom! - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[lumberjack]

They're still just trying to catch up after losing to PRS a few years back.

Yep! That one must have stung. And what was one of the reasons for them going after PRS?........the quote went something along the lines of someone in a smoky club with low lighting could mistake a PRS single cut for a Les Paul

 

[lumberjack]

Well, if you can't make money selling over priced sub-par quality control instruments....

+1000 They're just worried cause the Guitar Hero guitars are better quality and cheaper.

 

[Beach Radio]

EXCELLENT! I forgot about that one! What about Kaboom!

Kaboom! - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kaboom was wicked hard. Man - we could talk about Activision 2600 games forever. I spent hours with friends after school playing 2600, Colecovision, and Intellivision games.....
RiverRaid & Pitful were also huge time sinks on the 2600. I think I lost half of 1983 playing Imagic's Atlantis on the Intellivision...

 

[philiprst]

What's happening here is basic business. Gibson has a related patent but does not pursue a claim against Activision because they get a piece of the action through licensing fees. Activision decides it doesn't want a licensing agreement anymore so Gibson protects its position by pursuing a patent claim. If Gibson wins then they just license the GH idea back to Activision so things return to the way they were before. Faced with a potential no-win situation Activision may make the business decision to agree to the original license.

Apart from that, I am sad this has degenerated into a Gibson guitar bashing thread.

 

[Beach Radio]

What's happening here is basic business. Gibson has a related patent but does not pursue a claim against Activision because they get a piece of the action through licensing fees. Activision decides it doesn't want a licensing agreement anymore so Gibson protects its position by pursuing a patent claim. If Gibson wins then they just license the GH idea back to Activision so things return to the way they were before. Faced with a potential no-win situation Activision may make the business decision to agree to the original license.

Apart from that, I am sad this has degenerated into a Gibson guitar bashing thread.

I wonder if Gibson has a valid patent or is this just a frivolous lawsuit. Suing a business partner who has put your brand name in the presence of thousands seems more like bad business or greedy business than basic business.