Gibson Sues More Than Just Activision Over Virtual Music Concert Patent
from the who-else-can-we-sue dept
Remember how Activision had preemptively sued Gibson for a declaratory judgment that it didn't infringe on a really questionable patent concerning a computerized guitar for a "virtual" concert? Well, Gibson has now struck back, and it's not just suing Activision, but almost all the retailers who sell it as well, including Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Amazon.com, Toys 'R' Us and GameStop. The idea, clearly, is to have those retailers put pressure on Activision. Update: Wired reports that the lawsuit also covers a bunch of other companies. Basically, Gibson is suing anyone even remotely connected to video games that involve fake guitars.Of course, there are all sorts of questionable things about this lawsuit. As we pointed out when Activision first sued, Gibson's patent doesn't seem similar to "Guitar Hero" at all. It talks about playing a real concert, with a real guitar (with strings) attached to a head mounted display. Also, as Activision points out, Gibson didn't care about the patent as long as Activision and Gibson had a marketing agreement. They only started calling for patent infringement after the marketing agreement ended. Finally, suing retailers for selling the game is quite sketchy. In fact, the Supreme Court just heard a case looking at whether or not that was legit, and the Justices sounded quite skeptical. Gibson is clearly posturing to try to push for a settlement -- and in the process, showing yet another way to abuse the patent system.
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Filed Under: guitar hero, lawsuits, patents, retailers, supply chain
Companies: activision, amazon, gamestop, gibson, kmart, target, toys r us, wal-mart
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Mmmmmm...Lawyers!
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Re: What's next ...
...'Cause my GuitHero guitar has Gibson's right on the head. Which, if they don't have a contract, might look a bit like infringment, dont'cha think?
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Re: Re: What's next ...
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This is why the Force Feedback industry has suffered.
At one point in time Microsoft was fighting them as this is an obviously broad patent but the second Immersion offered MS part ownership the suit was dropped.
Forget how bad Vista is this is the real issue facing MS and it's many subsidiares. It's called collusion....
Some lawyer somewhere MUST be willing to break this BS patent.
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Re:
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Next Generation
They will lose the suit, lose the fans and lose any ability to influence next generation players.
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Are you kidding me!?
The system calls for:
1. A Real Guitar (not a controller)
2. An Interface with a bypass
3. An Effects Bank
4. Audio mixer
5. DVD/BETA player (BETA!!! Are you serious?)
6. Stereoscopic headset
This patent is in no way being infringed on by Activision (or Harmonix for Rock Band), who is using a guitar shaped controller, connected to a video game console where you occasionally see a computer generated band on stage (Not real life footage as in the patent), played by a console gamer, not necessarily a musician (I know both real musicians and gamers who play and love this game).
What else can I say...Gibson, like most of corporate America, is greedy to a fault, and jealous that their "Music Experience" didn't work out for them, now they want MORE of the fruits of someone else's labor. They already were paid for licensing to have models of their guitars displayed in the game. Do they really need more? I think not!
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It's The Lawyers
Make no mistake - I'm not defending Gibson. Stupidity permeates corporate boardrooms as much as anyplace.
There are too many lawyers in the US, and they are all chasing a dwindling client base. They continually recommend litigation as the solution to problems because that's when they make billable hours or get fat retainers. CEOs and boards that buy into this line of thinking are gutless, stupid idiots that "delegate" thinking to someone else instead of being a leader and settling issues like real business people.
There's a simple solution to this glut of patent suits - sanction the attorneys that bring such suits to court if they lose. When attorneys have a stake in the loss as well as a victory, then such nonsensical litigation will diminish. Make them accountable and let's see if negotiations and common sense begins to retrun.
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Internet = Check & Balances...
No longer are the days when a company like Gibson can do abusive things like this and keep it under the radar.
Because of this story, I'm sure many have written to Gibson and even more will seriously look for alternatives before purchasing their products.
It should be interesting to see how Gibson handles the backlash. If they handle it like Sony and the RootKit issue (i.e. no remorse and no public apologies for their trust breech) then I'll think in the long run this will hurt them for a what appears to be a very smalll chance for short term gains.
Freedom
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There is most likely something that isnt public knowledge that is causing this lawsuit. Perhaps GH4 loaded with the competitors guitars?
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ummm..
what do tele's and strats have to do with Gibson?? They are made by Fender.
I agree this lawsuit is pretty lame, but Gibson still makes really great guitars so I don't think it will effect sales too badly.
Oh, and btw, SG's are light and still rip.
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Strumming....Patented!
Also, let's define "concert." Taken from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/concert:
1. a public musical performance in which a number of singers or instrumentalists, or both, participate.
2. a public performance, usually by an individual singer, instrumentalist, or the like; recital: The violinist has given concerts all over the world.
Where is the public performance with Guitar Hero? Who is the audience? If it's just me playing Guitar Hero, is that a concert?
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