Gibson Guitar Sues Activision over Guitar Hero!

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Amp Divorax
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Gibson Guitar Sues Activision over Guitar Hero!

Post by Amp Divorax » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:31 pm

Ok, this is just retarded.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=11070

According to this Gibson made patents back in 1999 for stuff like this. Well, I'd hate to burst their bubble, but as mentioned in their article Konami beat them to the punch and then some. The article is actually a bit off on the initial release date of Guitar Freaks as it first appeared in Japan in 1998.
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Re: Gibson Guitar Sues Activision over Guitar Hero!

Post by Ho » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:45 pm

Amp Divorax wrote:The article is actually a bit off on the initial release date of Guitar Freaks as it first appeared in Japan in 1998.
Actually, they're right.

According to the Konami GF/DM Gateway page, GF1 released 1999/03.

beatmania (5-key) and DDR hit in 1998, but Guitar Freaks didn't appear until 1999.
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Post by malictus » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:16 pm

Activision also pointed out that Gibson’s lack of action in the three years of Guitar Hero’s existence granted an implied license for any technology.
That's what I was thinking.

It's the best-selling video game of 2007; everybody wants a piece of the action.

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Post by MonMotha » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:45 pm

Well, that's not how patents work, and this is why so-called "patent trolls" are a big problem. There are entire companies out there whose sole purpose is to buy up patents, hold on to them in hopes they become widely and unknowingly infringed, and then sue over them. That isn't the case here, but the behavior is somewhat similar.

Now, there is doctrine that can prevent recovery of damages from past infringement if such infringement was widespread/obvious and the patent owner would have been expected to be aware of it, and this has come up before. Guitar Hero would seem to qualify. However, it does NOT prevent an injunction from being issued to stop current/future sales (including pulling products off shelves), nor does it prevent licensing agreements and royalties from being exchanged. The only way to keep using the patented concept for free is to either strike a royalty free agreement with the owner (IBM is famous for this, mostly due to their ability to crush just about anybody under a heap of patent countersuits) or to find a way to invalidate the patent.

The only "Intellectual Property" you have to actively defend or risk losing is a trademark. Copyrights and patents don't have this requirement. These little things (and there's bunches of them) are why many people don't like lumping all three (or, even worse, including the concept of "trade secret") into one giant category. Each thing is separate legally, and they do behave differently.
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Post by Amp Divorax » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:16 pm

Damn, it was 1999 when it first came out. Albeit I find it odd that the page says 99/03 and the artwork for the Bemani 10th Anniversary soundtrack has it listed as 99/02.
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