Gibson Claims Guitar Hero Games Violate Patent

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
Can someone explain to me why it took so long for Gibson to file suit against Activision? Honestly, if this is in fact a legitimate claim, how did they not know their patent was being infringed upon?

According to the suit, as reported by Reuters, Gibson alleges that the series infringes on a patent for technology that simulates a concert performance via pre-recorded audio and a musical instrument. Gibson notified Activision of the infringement in a letter on January 7, stating that Activision needed to obtain a license from Gibson.
Click to expand...
 
Hmm, I wonder if this would apply to Rock Band as well.

Either way, if there is a problem, you'd think they'd file after the first games release.
 
This whole patent infringement business is getting way out of hand.

By the way [H], I just noticed you're infringing on my patent to post news articles. You'll be hearing from my lawyers shortly.
 
...lets see...
guitar hero
guitar hero 2
guitar hero: rock of the 80s
guitar hero 3
rock band...

maybe it was because the modeled gth3's guitar after a Gibson?
 
knight3058 said:
...lets see...
guitar hero
guitar hero 2
guitar hero: rock of the 80s
guitar hero 3
rock band...

maybe it was because the modeled gth3's guitar after a Gibson?
Click to expand...

Uh... I think they licensed the name from Gibson for those. Otherwise it would be extremely stupid of Activision/Harmonix to label them Gibson Xplorers, etc.
 
dunno bout arson, but I defiantly thing patent system needs a re-org, especially with so many stupid greedy people out there.
 
knight3058 said:
...lets see...
guitar hero
guitar hero 2
guitar hero: rock of the 80s
guitar hero 3
rock band...

maybe it was because the modeled gth3's guitar after a Gibson?
Click to expand...

LOL! The game controller is licensed by Gibson! It freaking has the Gibson logo on it..
 
knight3058 said:
maybe it was because the modeled gth3's guitar after a Gibson?
Click to expand...

No - they license the use of the Gibson "image" for use in the game, so already get paid for that. Gibson's filing this suit because they are now claiming that the concept of a game with a "virtual concert" is a violation of some patent they filed back in 1999. I fail to see how they would go ahead and license their image while at the same time saying that the game itself violates some other patent they hold unless they're either a) that stupid or b) wanted to wait until Red Octane was bought by a larger company with bigger pockets.

Really - the whole model right now of patenting "ideas" is flawed and needs to be re-examined in some form.
 
This seems to patent the backing track... Not to mention anyone that has 'rocked out' with their unplugged guitar to a song playing on their stereo.

This patent claim will not succeed - there is too much prior art. It seems to me that Gibson is attempting an easy out of court settlement.
 
There should be a class action lawsuit to Gibson to STFU!

These lawsuits are out of control. I'm sure the reason why no one says anything initially is because they want to see how much money is made and if it's a crap load, THEN they sue. Why waste money on lawyers if the game is a total flop?
 
k1DBLITZ said:
This whole patent infringement business is getting way out of hand.

By the way [H], I just noticed you're infringing on my patent to post news articles. You'll be hearing from my lawyers shortly.
Click to expand...

QFT

Lets patent something real and not just abstract ideas!

 
I don't get how this works.... Gibson licensed their guitars to a game that they planned to sue for patent infringement?

WTF?
 
Bohica69 said:
This is a fishing expedition - nothing more - increase revenue thru litigation!
Click to expand...

If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em.
If you can't innovate, litigate.
If you can't license, litigate.
Hell, just litigate their asses. lol :p
 
Steve said:
Can someone explain to me why it took so long for Gibson to file suit against Activision? Honestly, if this is in fact a legitimate claim, how did they not know their patent was being infringed upon?
Click to expand...

It's called feeding the pig before you slaughter it. Milking it for all its worth.
 
btw, I use the double loop method to tie my shoes to prevent the laces from coming undone, if anyone else uses that for anything else in the universe I'm suing!
 
"Gibson alleges that the series infringes on a patent for technology that simulates a concert performance via pre-recorded audio and a musical instrument."

So... Gibson patented lip-syncing? Looks like the half of Milli Vanilli that's still alive is about to be sued...
 
All your large companies have legal teams. I am sure the head of the legal team went to Mr. Juszkiewicz and alerted him or the board to this issue long ago.

From what I understand, Gibson is doing very well. This is most likely the company fishing for dollars. I'm sure they have in-house legal or some large law firm on retainer. I would imagine their cost to pursue this to be very minimal.

What's a small slice of hundreds of millions of dollars?

Small risk vs. the large reward.

I would do it in a heart beat. I'm new school, I have no ethics or morals.

"Oh, the land we own that the 2500 unit housing project sits on has tripled in value?"

"Contact legal, I want to them about evictions."
 
The patent
System and method for generating and controlling a simulated musical concert experience

Abstract

A musician can simulate participation in a concert by playing a musical instrument and wearing a head-mounted 3D display that includes stereo speakers. Audio and video portions of a musical concert are pre-recorded, along with a separate sound track corresponding to the musical instrument played by the musician. Playback of the instrument sound track is controlled by signals generated in the musical instrument and transmitted to a system interface box connected to the audio-video play back device, an audio mixer, and the head-mounted display. An external bypass switch allows the musician to suppress the instrument sound track so that the sounds created by actual playing of the musical instrument are heard along with the pre-recorded audio and video portions.
Click to expand...
 
After reading the patent, there "could" be a little bit of it but they are talking about a headmounted display, and the fact that (not playing it) I don't think you are able to play your own music in the guitar hero stuff.

Besides that, guitar hero is in a way like a heavily upgraded simon says, which would mean that Hasbro(?) would be the ones with the patent on it, (following the color pattern to produce the correct tones)
 
Here's my view as a former buyer at a musical instrument shop.

Gibson is an evil corporation run by a bunch of assholes. Henry Juszkiewicz can suck my left nut.

I've had plenty of experience with just about all the other musical instrument manufacturers. Fender, Ibanez, Schecter, Marshall, Line6, Korg, etc., etc., etc. are really, really nice companies to work with. However, the store I worked at was a Baldwin dealer at the time that Gibson bought Baldwin. We went from dealing with some great people at Baldwin to dealing with their Gibson replacements. Every time you'd talk to them, you'd feel anally raped.

I hope Gibson gets the crap smacked out of them.
 
If you aren't actively building/researching your "patent" for a year or more, then you lose rights to sue them for that patent. You shouldn't be able to patent something then sit on it to collect on a lawsuit. If you are abandoning your patent, you must file with the patent office as such or get a large penalty.

If you don't contact certain company using (selling items) from your patent within a year of its use, you lose rights to sue them for that patent. You shouldn't be able to wait until that company gets larger and larger amounts of revenue then sue.

Patents fixed.

When you bring a lawsuit upon somebody, if you lose, you owe them the amount you are suing for. You lose your rights to file bankruptcy.

[frivolous] Lawsuits fixed.

;) :D
 
The real question is why in the world were they able to get a patent for such a obvious idea in the first place. Patents are so broken right now in regards to this type of stuff.
 
Gibson is a guitar company. Right now, their guitars are selling for huge amounts as compared to all the other companies in the industry. This is no time to let lawyers start running the company into the ground.
 
phiquach said:
wouldn't they lose because the guitar controller isn't an instrument?
Click to expand...

That was my first thought as well. Guitar Hero (and RockBand) use game controllers, not instruments. Take the controller out of the context of the game and you have nothing but a piece of plastic. I can't plug my GH controller into my Marshall amp, nor can I plug my Gibson Les Paul into my PS3 to play GH. They're not the same thing.
 
Wait a minute!

I can make "click, click, click, clack" sounds with my GH guitar. Couldn't that be construed as music? ;)
 
This is going to be a PR nightmare for Gibson..

I mean seriously, this is just a case of "ooh, now they have money, SUE their ass!"
 
j11h00 said:
This is going to be a PR nightmare for Gibson..

I mean seriously, this is just a case of "ooh, now they have money, SUE their ass!"
Click to expand...

Have you paid attention to Gibson over the past ten years? They are in and of themselves a PR nightmare. They took The very-popular Trace Elliot brand and killed it (thank Peavey for reviving it). Baldwin is a pale shadow of its former self. Kramer could've remained somewhat competitive but you can only buy them at MusicYo, now. The same with Tobias. Tobias used to be a HIGH-END custom shop for basses. Now they're affordable production models. All due to Gibson.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top