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Judge Tosses Patent Suit Against "Guitar Hero" Maker Activision

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 3, 2009 - 10:24am.
Los Angeles - A judge has dismissed the patent infringement lawsuit brought by guitar maker Gibson against Activision (NASD: ATVI), publisher of the "Guitar Hero" music video game franchise, GameDaily reported.

Gibson's 1999 patent covers technology that can stimulate musical performances, and its claims of patent infringement last March were quickly followed by a lawsuit from Activision, seeking to invalidate the claims.

The two companies had previously worked together harmoniously on Guitar Hero, whose controllers model Gibson guitars, which also appear virtually in the game itself.

"As a general observation, no reasonable person of ordinary skill in the relevant arts would interpret [Gibson's patent] as covering interactive video games," the court wrote in its ruling, according to a blog post on IPTrademarkAttorney.com.

The court further noted that "Gibson's own expert admits that the signals from a Guitar Hero controller -- on their own -- do not represent the pitch, timbre, or any other articulable characteristic of the sound made by the controller."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/d0zfh (GameDaily)

http://snipurl.com/d10d5 (IPTrademarkAttorney.com)

http://www.activision.com

Published in DMW Daily, March 3, 2009
tags: Games | Law | Lawsuits | Music | Patents | Activision | Gibson | Guitar Hero |



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