Gibson Strikes Bum Note

A US District Court for the Central District of California has ruled against Gibson, in their attempts to file a lawsuit against Activision and their Guitar Hero games. The guitar maker handed the gaming company a notice that claimed it owned the patent for devices “simulating musical performance,” but a judge ruled that the claim was invalid.

The cases major sticking point was whether Guitar Hero controllers were actually "musical instruments," and unsurprisingly, the court said they're not -- it called them "toys that represent other items." They went on to state that the Gibson patent only applied to output analog audio signals, excluding MIDI signals and other control signals of a similar kind.

Gibson also had the audacity to claim that the Guitar Hero controllers should be considered actual musical instruments since they make a “clicky” sound. Am I hearing this right? Judging by that rationale; every time I tap my fingers on the desk I’m turning it into a full-fledged drum set.

A similar lawsuit was filed against Harmonix, for their use of instruments in the Rock Band games, but considering the outcome here it may be dropped fairly quickly.

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed