Gibson Loses to Guitar Hero

03 Mar 2009 at 02:18:07 by Paul Younger

Gibson's Guitar Hero case against Activision has been thrown out of court.

Guitar manufacturer Gibson has been battling with Activision over Guitar Hero, alleging a patent infringement over the instruments which Gibson claimed were playing back music. The court deemed this not to be the case stating:

"The ‘405 Patent generally covers playback of prerecorded music by playing back the “musical sounds” of an “actual musical instrument,” and once the musician has mastered a particular song, the ‘405 Patent’s system is no longer necessary."

"The ‘405 Patent itself disavows systems that either (1) do not involve ‘actual operation of a musical instrument’ or (2) use virtual reality-type control devices."

What this basically means is that Guitar Hero instruments don't actually make any musical sounds, despite Gibson's claim that the Guitar Hero drum kit's thudding of sticks on rubber pads could be viewed as making a musical noise.

Comment