Gibson lays lawsuit on GameStop, other major retailers

by James Ransom-Wiley { Mar 21st 2008 at 6:20PM }

Gibson seems to be poking its straw into any hole it can find these days, trying to desperately suck up some of that gooey Guitar Hero money before it's all gone. On Monday, the guitar maker filed a federal lawsuit against major retailers that sell Guitar Hero games, including GameStop, Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Amazon, and Toys "R" Us, seeking to prohibit sales of the games. In a statement released Thursday, the company claimed it took "this action reluctantly, but is required to protect its intellectual property."

Though Gibson has yet to file suit against Guitar Hero owner Activision, the guitar company has made a legal claim alleging that the games (when played with the guitar controllers) violate Gibson's patent for a type of virtual music performance. Subsequently, Activision filed a preemptive lawsuit against Gibson last week, and then publicly dismissed Gibson's patent infringement claim. Most recently, Gibson targeted Guitar Hero creator and former developer Harmonix, its daddy's daddy Viacom and Rock Band co-publisher Electronic Arts for allegedly violating the same patent ... Yeah, our head's spinning too.

[Via Engadget]

Tags: amazon, breakingnews, gamestop, gibson, guitar-hero, kmart, lawsuit, target, toys-r-us, wal-mart

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Joeshie @ Mar 21st 2008 6:23PM

Seriously Gibson, do you just run around throwing lawsuits at anyone who has anything to do with Guitar Hero?

I'm willing to bet that I'll get a letter in the mail someday soon saying that I'm being sued by Gibson for owning a Guitar Hero guitar.

Probot @ Mar 21st 2008 6:41PM

They don't have a choice. It's a quirky part of the trademark/copyright system. If they don't activley prohibit infringment, they lose their trademark/copyright.

It's why Disney had to sue a few daycares in the 1980s.

http://snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.asp

copa @ Mar 21st 2008 7:28PM

Uh, no. You can lose your trademark rights by not actively protecting them, but not patent or copyright protection.

In this case, Gibson is attempting to 'protect' their patents. But if they don't sue every company in existence, they only thing they stand to lose is their status as major-league assholes.

Number_Zero @ Mar 21st 2008 6:23PM

...
Never buying a Gibson or Gibson owned guitar again.

Shmil @ Mar 21st 2008 6:27PM

hey now i didn't like GHIII that much either but you don't see me going around suing everyone

Shmil @ Mar 21st 2008 6:27PM

off topic
I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!

Nate @ Mar 21st 2008 6:30PM

I'm going to go ahead and predict that Gibson will regret this lawsuit, look back and wonder why they didn't cash in on the popularity of the game with their own line of compatible guitars, cry themselves to sleep at night for a year.

May the backlash will be swift and severe.

(I always liked Strats and Teles myself.)

dex @ Mar 24th 2008 1:34AM

this is exactly why i play ESP's

StarFoxA @ Mar 21st 2008 6:31PM

This is madness.

Double J @ Mar 21st 2008 6:44PM

Please, I beg of you all, no 300 jokes. PLEASE!

StarFoxA @ Mar 21st 2008 6:46PM

I apologize, I couldn't resist.

yeahyeahyeah @ Mar 21st 2008 10:41PM

madness? THIS IS GIBSON!!!

sry just had to let that one out

Dave Silva @ Mar 21st 2008 6:33PM

What a way to ALIENATE those of us who are interested in real guitars, you freakin' morons.

I hope you LOSE, and that all your other lawsuits get thrown out of court too.

HHPHChrisRyan @ Mar 21st 2008 7:59PM

Gibson isn't alienating you from purchasing a guitar. They are helping you decide which brand of guitar not to buy.

Chameleon @ Mar 21st 2008 8:45PM

^^
ah-ha sir i see what you did there ....

+1 for you

Double J @ Mar 21st 2008 6:39PM

Well, thank god I own a Peavey.

unosturgis @ Mar 21st 2008 6:40PM

hopefully we will see a backlash of Cooper Lawrence proportions! lol

Omar @ Mar 21st 2008 6:45PM

You would think Guitar Hero would turn people on to playing a real guitar, and maybe even purchasing real Gibson. Too bad Gibson is gathering all this negative press and ultimately turning would-be fans away.

Chameleon @ Mar 21st 2008 7:17PM

great avatar ... that is all ....

copa @ Mar 21st 2008 7:30PM

Yeah, +1 for the avatar.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:24PM

Actually, it goes beyond "you would think." Since the introduction and rise in popularity of Guitar Hero, guitar sales across the board have been on the rise and well as the music lessons industry has seen growth too.

It's sad because hat Gibson is doing is proving themselves an ass to popential customers. Fucks sake, Gibson is all over Guitar Hero and that's the kind of axes players will go for... not anymore.

The Artist formally known as Jesus SSBB code: 0430-7963-559 @ Mar 21st 2008 6:54PM

I just got a letter from Gibson.

I'm being sued for buying GH and Rock Band

:'(

Thierry @ Mar 21st 2008 6:54PM

It's time for the other big guitar manufacturers to enter the limelight and take Gibson's place in future Guitar Hero and Rock Band games.

moominsean @ Mar 21st 2008 7:01PM

yeah makes me want to never buy a gibson product ever again.

nate @ Mar 21st 2008 8:16PM

I highly doubt you own/were planning to buy a Gibson product anyways. There are plenty of Boycott Gibson posts already, we didn't yours.

PeterBeck @ Mar 21st 2008 8:32PM

I too am tossing in my hat into the Gibson boycott bandwagon.

Unfortunately I do not own any guitars, nor hold any desire to buy any in the future, past, present, pretense, post-tense, post haste, or Post Cereal.

However some of my closest friends do however own and purchase guitars, and I will be immediately evacuating their instruments from their dwellings in the basic assumption that they view things the same as myself.

As well I'd like to take this time to boycott non-philips screwdrivers, as they complicate and convolute my day to day life where I imagine I'm a handyman with a set of gold plated philips head screwdrivers.

moominsean @ Mar 21st 2008 9:02PM

i've actually owned the same gibson since 1987 and plan on getting a new guitar sometime in the next couple years... dunno if it will be gibson.

moominsean @ Mar 21st 2008 9:03PM

oh yeah, and i didn't yours either.

Big Ed @ Mar 21st 2008 7:02PM

Looks like Gibson wants to drink your milkshake.

Joran @ Mar 21st 2008 7:04PM

"It's time for the other big guitar manufacturers to enter the limelight and take Gibson's place in future Guitar Hero and Rock Band games."

Fender already has an agreement with Rock Band; hence the Stratocaster peripheral. Gibson is with Guitar Hero.

Sam K @ Mar 21st 2008 7:06PM

Introducing, from the newly formed Gibson Games:

GIBSON'S LAWSUIT HERO

How fast can you sue?

KeenCommander @ Mar 21st 2008 7:10PM

On a scale of one to pathetic...

Keiichi @ Mar 21st 2008 7:29PM

This is bollocks. Do you think Rickenbacker are going to sue AIC/Pioneer Anime over the use of their name for the L/R: Licensed By Royalty character Rowe Rickenbacker?

No man should ever live his life without a Rickenbacker.

Roto13 @ Mar 21st 2008 7:35PM

I keep getting flashes of "Metallica" in my head.

ill trooper @ Mar 21st 2008 7:45PM

"Who's been drinkin' MILKSHAKES around here?!?"

darkman @ Mar 21st 2008 8:36PM

why doesn't Gibson sue Konami for Guitar Freaks??? Or maybe the "patent" in question was made after Guitar Freaks and Gibson is setting on patent waiting to sue. And might lose if they take Konami to court, since they made it first[But didn't patented it].

ManekiNeko @ Mar 22nd 2008 4:24AM

Konami's been surprisingly silent about all this. They created Guitar Freaks back in what, 1998? Yet they haven't sued Harmonix, Red Octane, Activision, or anyone else for copyright infringement, even though they have an actual product and justification for filing lawsuits. It's just mindblowing.

(Too bad Guitar Freaks wasn't much fun...)

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 22nd 2008 6:32PM

ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!

Guitar Freaks was unveiled in 1998 but made it's arcade appearance in 1999. Three full months before the Gibson patent was filed. Many believe Gibson checked stateside to see if Konami had patented a similar device in the US and when that turned up empty, Gibson filed theirs. Nobody knows if the patent worked or not considering no prototype was ever shown so Gibson's device could actually exist only in the hearts and minds of every child.

Konami, meanwhile, only patents game interfaces. This is why Guitar Hero got the hallway interface. Which shoudl be invalid anyway... damn this patent system abuse.

ck @ Mar 21st 2008 9:03PM

Mr. Plainview's statement, "I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people." could very well fit into Gibson's profile.

moominsean @ Mar 21st 2008 9:05PM

they should sue everyone that plays air guitar. that's a virtual musical performance. and anyone who plays air guitar deserves to be sued, just because.

Mike @ Mar 21st 2008 9:56PM

I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!

Great movie.

drunkninja @ Mar 21st 2008 9:57PM

Yeah, it seems to me they really don't have a case here.

"BAAAWWWWW GUITAR HERO VIOLATES OUR PATENTS BAWWWWWW"

"Didn't they come to you in order to license your guitar designs and produce replicas of your guitars for controllers?"

"YES"

"So....you knew what they were up to at that time, I take it?"

"YES"

"And you didn't raise an issue about it with them at that time?"

"NO"

"So what's your case?"

"BAAAWWWWW GUITAR HERO VIOLATES OUR PATENTS BAWWWWWW"

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:41PM

The only part of their patent which could possibly be used against Guitar hero had all those aspects already incorporated a full two years prior in Beatmania...

driven2sin @ Mar 21st 2008 10:24PM

gibson sucks.. BC RICH RULEZ!

Cian @ Mar 21st 2008 10:58PM

I'm curious as to the effect this will have GH:Aerosmith and GHIV. Will there still be Gibson guitars? Or shall we get a Peavy Wolfgang peripheral or a Fender Stratocaster here as well?

Joe @ Mar 22nd 2008 12:51AM

Looks like they're trying to get some DRAAAAAAAAIIINNNNNAAAAAGGGGGEEEEE out of some bank accounts, huh?

Kinda seems like they're THE THIRD REVELATION, the way they keep using their SONG, AND DANCE, AND SUPERSTITION, acting like IT IS THEM WHOM GOD HAS CHOSEN!

/bowling pin

bulbous_shot @ Mar 22nd 2008 4:44AM

HACK THE GIBSON.

Because of this stupid spat with a damn video game; I actually feel a little bad for owning an SG. Way to go, Gibson! You should be happy that many of the untold numbers of kids picking up game controller guitars that look like Gibsons will most likely be buying actual Gibsons when they decide they want to play guitar for real.

Emceay @ Mar 22nd 2008 11:07PM

Hah! Gibson's doing a fine job of earning a negative reputation. They'll lose the lawsuit because their patent is too vague and then no one will want to buy a guitar with their tarnished name.

Tre @ Mar 23rd 2008 2:20AM

Gibson's not jamming it's straw in every hole it can find...

It's jamming it's male "instrument" in every hole it can find, hoping to receive some of that joy that oodles of money can bring.

Seriously, though, Gibson's getting a little sue-happy. They don't stand to lose anything from Guitar Hero... It hasn't stopped anyone I know from going out and purchasing a guitar. If anything, it actually made them want to get themselves a guitar MORE.

Stupid Gibson, you're ruining the best thing you had going for you by suing it to death.