A Music Suit NOT Related to the RIAA

 

[The Les Paul, one of Gibson's most popular models of guitar]

The music world has seen significant change at the hands of Guitar Hero and it’s smarter younger brother, Rock Band, as has been mentioned many times on this blog. However, an unexpected suit has occured from guitar companyhref=”http://www.gibson.com/” mce_href=”http://www.gibson.com/”>Gibson, who claim that a 1999 patent for a virtual-reality game similar to Guitar Hero might make the Activision game a case of infringement. In the Gibson game, a concert is pre-recorded and a separate audio channel is used that reacts to what the player is playing, whereas the Guitar Hero game tells players what they should play based on what appears onscreen. Gibson are claiming that until the validity of the suit is determined, no future copies of Guitar Hero should be produced. In the meantime, Acitivision is trying to get a ruling which claims the validity of their product and that it does not violate any patent.