14 DAY TRIAL // What is the main drawback when you manage to create a successful game? A game that in the 3 years since its original launch has brought in around 1 billion dollars in revenue and spawned some very good add-ons? A game that has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide? When the name of the game is Guitar Hero, the main drawback seems to be lawsuits, high-profile lawsuits.
First, Harmonix, creators of the Guitar Hero concept, launched a lawsuit against Activision, claiming that the company did not offer them the full royalties that their agreement called for. And now, Gibson Guitars, one of the biggest and best known guitar makers in the world, who counts David Gilmour and Mick Box amongst its clients, is filling its own suit against Activision, for patent infringement.
In 1999, Gibson claimed a patent for any device creating a simulation of music performance. And now, they thought about it and noticed that what Guitar Hero was doing, with its gameplay mechanics and peripherals, was to simulate a music performance. So, in January 2008, they sent a letter to Activision in which they detailed why the wildly popular game was infringing on its patent.
Activision general legal counsel George Rose commented that: "Gibson is a good partner, and we have a great deal of respect for them. We disagree with the applicability of their patent and would like a legal determination on this." Which basically means that Activision counter suited and asked the courts to nullify the patent that Gibson was invoking on the grounds that it had not been used for the last 3 years.
The whole thing smells like money. Let me explain. Guitar Hero is such a moneymaking machine for Activision that other interested parties, like Gibson, that collaborated with Activision in the past, or Harmonix, the original designers of Guitar Hero, really want to get their hands on a percentage of the earnings. And the lawsuits are just that, tools towards a monetary advantageous settlement.