Activision and Gibson Enter Legal Dispute Over Guitar Hero

It’s hard to be the best…or well, at least the biggest, as Activision is finding out. The latest legal dispute for the gaming mega-publisher comes from their dear friends over at Gibson, whose guitars were the basis for the Guitar Hero controller designs. Gibson claims that Guitar Hero infringes on a patent they made in 1999 for a musical performance simulator.

“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 January 7 letter. “Gibson requests that Activision obtain a license under Gibson’s … patent or halt sales of any version of the ‘Guitar Hero’ game software.”

Activision filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Central California to render the patent invalid, citing that Gibson gave an implied license by waiting three years to make a claim. Despite all this, Activision is still maintaining that they’re on good terms with Gibson:

“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.

We’ll see just how good of friends they are when the dust has settled
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