Gibson 'Settles' Patent Lawsuit Over Guitar Hero

from the rock-on dept

Wed, Jun 9th 2010 10:12pm — Mike Masnick

You may recall that famed guitar maker Gibson started claiming that its patent (5,990,405) on a "simulated musical concert" system was being infringed upon by various musical video games. Gibson went nuclear, suing everyone it could possibly think of, including companies who were just retailers of the game for patent infringement. Pretty quickly a court told Gibson that the lawsuit "bordered on the frivolous" which didn't bode well for Gibson. However, THREsq points us to the news that Gibson has "settled" the lawsuit and will be dropping the case. Given the way the courts reacted early on to the lawsuit, you have to imagine that "settlement" wasn't for very much money. My guess is that Viacom offered Gibson something less than it would have cost to continue defending these lawsuits to make the company go back to focusing on making guitars.

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Filed Under: guitar hero, patent, settlement
Companies: activision, gibson, viacom

13 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 9 Jun 2010 @ 11:11pm

They make some beautiful instruments
Too bad Gibson wasn't a little more vague with the patent, then they might have had a claim.
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bradmoreso (profile), 9 Jun 2010 @ 11:15pm

Looks really stupid
This is actually more stupid than Commodore demanding money from Paramount in exchange for featuring the Amiga in Star Trek IV. One phone call to Apple from Paramount resulted in 20 Macs delivered + two techs onsite.

Apparently by the time Rock Band came out, Fender was smart enough to contribute the design for the guitar and the bass controllers that Harmonix sells. You can even get a Fender Mustang controller with Rock Band 3, and Fender licenses the Strat controller design.

Maybe Gibson was suing to get in on the deal. IMHO that would have worked better with honey than vinegar.

Gibson USA could stand to lighten its lawyer overhead, or at least to educate them on brand exposure/loyalty.
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nunya_bidness, 10 Jun 2010 @ 4:13am

Just my op
Telecaster=clean and smooth
Les Paul=dirty and distorted
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- harbingerofdoom (profile), 10 Jun 2010 @ 6:42am
  
  Re: Just my op
  yes you are 100% correct and thats just one of the reasons people pick the guitars they do. some people like that sound & feel.
  
  now everyone get back to making your respective products and stop this tomfoolery.
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wowreally?, 10 Jun 2010 @ 6:56am

Re: Just my op
clean and smooth? dirty and distorted? Neither are distorted, both are used with "distortion". You really need to put down that controller and play a real guitar once in a while.
telecaster - tinny/plinkety single coils that are noisy
les paul - noiseless humbuckers with a nice clean sound

the amp does the distortion, foo'.
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Overcast (profile), 10 Jun 2010 @ 7:02am

Oh, glad I read this. I was going to get my daughter a new guitar - she's been into it a lot, so going from the defacto 'cheapy starter' to a good one.

Mark one company off the list...
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2010 @ 9:56am
  
  Re:
  Ibanez RG series = win
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  - Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2010 @ 10:58am
    
    Re: Re:
    +1
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staff, 10 Jun 2010 @ 7:38am

retailers
"...suing everyone it could possibly think of, including companies who were just retailers of the game"

That's because patents allow you to exclude parties from selling the invention. Write about topics you know something about -not patents.
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- Anonymous Coward, 10 Jun 2010 @ 11:02am
  
  Re: retailers
  LOL, you're a fucking fool. Everyone knows that fool...
  
  Seriously, why don't you get back to studying for the bar and speak only when you have some non-obvious information or a valid opinion.
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 10 Jun 2010 @ 11:25am
  
  Re: retailers
  That's because patents allow you to exclude parties from selling the invention. Write about topics you know something about -not patents.
  
  No one said otherwise. In fact, we've covered that very fact many times on this site. But that doesn't mean it makes sense. Highlighting it shows the ridiculousness of the system.
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Erin, 24 Jun 2010 @ 12:07pm

patent infringement
Patent Infringement is a growing problem. Since law does not require manufacturers to inform patent owners that they are using the patent owner’s invention, Patent infringement can be unintentional. In most cases, it will be up to the owner of the patent to pursue Patent Litigation, a costly and time consuming process. It is always a good idea, if you are going to get a patent, that you do extensive research to make sure that no one already has a patent, and that you continue to monitor the industry to ensure that no one uses your patent with out your consent.
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Sarah, 20 Jul 2010 @ 3:17pm

Gibson and guitar lessons
This totally makes me look at Gibson in a new light. I thought they were the kind of company that would stay out of this kind of legal non-sense. My first Guitar lessons were on a Gibson so I feel somewhat attached to it still. All of that said, I do understand that patents do carry a lot of weight in this country. Just think though, someone could sue Gibson for their design, it's all the same to me.
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