Guitar maker Gibson is making the bold claim that Activision’s popular Guitar Hero series infringes on a patent issued in 1999 by Gibson themselves for “technology to simulate a musical performance.”

Gibson allegedly sent a letter in January requesting Activision to either apply for a license or stop selling the Guitar Hero games altogether.

Activision believes Gibson’s claims are without merit and has asked the Court to find the claim invalid, seeking to declare Gibson’s patent invalid and to stop it from claiming damages for patent infringement.

Why wait so long to complain? Glancing over the patent, I don’t think their claim will hold much water in court, but we’ll see.

Activision’s ‘Guitar Hero’ violates patent-Gibson [Reuters]

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