Gibson and Viacom settle guitar patent lawsuit
The
patent suit filed by the Gibson guitar company against Harmonix, Viacom and EA over the
Rock Band guitar has come to an end. Rather than the
clear victory Harmonix seemed to expect, the parties have agreed to settle. According to
Business Week, Gibson and Viacom asked a federal court to dismiss the case by June 14, stating that they "had reached a full settlement." Finally, we can all rock out without being racked by guilt over using a potentially infringing device.
Gibson originally claimed that the
Rock Band guitar violated a 1999 patent for "a system for electronically simulating participation by a user in a pre-recorded musical performance." Gibson
lost a similar case against its old
Guitar Hero peripheral partner, Activision, in 2009.
[Via
Edge]
