http://www.gamelemon.com/glblog/2008/03/21/gison-says-wait-now-we-want-more-cash/ GameLemon: Video Games Gone Funny! Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:47:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://www.gamelemon.com/glblog/2008/03/21/gison-says-wait-now-we-want-more-cash/#comment-102 vaga_koleso Sun, 23 Mar 2008 03:17:10 +0000 http://www.gamelemon.com/glblog/2008/03/21/gison-says-wait-now-we-want-more-cash/#comment-102 Having some actual patent experience, I went and looked up this Gibson patent. (If you are curious, search for patent 5,990,405 at www.uspto.gov/patft/). It does indeed describe a system for simulating a Guitar Hero-like experience, with one significant difference - it talks about using a REAL musical instrument, and not a GAME CONTROLLER mimicking one - which, incidentally, happens to be the subject of another patent held by none other than Harmonix. While that might seem like a minor difference, it's actually huge, because the intention of the Gibson patent is completely and totally different - it's meant to enable real musicians to simulate real performances - not pretend to rock on a piece of plastic for personal entertainment purposes. But hey, I guess they decided that Harmonix has made enough money now to make it worthwhile to try to fight this out in the courts - or, more likely, to force them to settle for some nice round sum. Having some actual patent experience, I went and looked up this Gibson patent. (If you are curious, search for patent 5,990,405 at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/). It does indeed describe a system for simulating a Guitar Hero-like experience, with one significant difference - it talks about using a REAL musical instrument, and not a GAME CONTROLLER mimicking one - which, incidentally, happens to be the subject of another patent held by none other than Harmonix. While that might seem like a minor difference, it’s actually huge, because the intention of the Gibson patent is completely and totally different - it’s meant to enable real musicians to simulate real performances - not pretend to rock on a piece of plastic for personal entertainment purposes. But hey, I guess they decided that Harmonix has made enough money now to make it worthwhile to try to fight this out in the courts - or, more likely, to force them to settle for some nice round sum.

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