Gibson Guitar Inc is claiming that Guitar Hero infringes on one of their patents from 1999. The patent it for a “system and method for generating and controlling a simulated musical concert experience,” but unfortunately for Gibson they never actually created that, just filed the patent. Now, with the success of Guitar Hero, they’ve realized what a great profitable idea it really is, and they want some money too. Here is a portion of the patent, from the United States Patent and Trademark Office website:

A musician can simulate participation in a concert by playing a musical instrument and wearing a head-mounted 3D display that includes stereo speakers. Audio and video portions of a musical concert are pre-recorded, along with a separate sound track corresponding to the musical instrument played by the musician. Playback of the instrument sound track is controlled by signals generated in the musical instrument and transmitted to a system interface box connected to the audio-video play back device, an audio mixer, and the head-mounted display. An external bypass switch allows the musician to suppress the instrument sound track so that the sounds created by actual playing of the musical instrument are heard along with the pre-recorded audio and video portions.

Head-mounted 3D displays and unnecessary complications aside, it does have some similarities to Guitar Hero (and Rock Band for that matter). However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that they waited until now to take action, once it was abundantly clear that Guitar Hero was making a lot of money. Gibson is already making money since their guitars are licensed for use in the game, but they just want more. Here is what they had to say on the matter in a letter from January 7th:

Based on our preliminary analysis, the ‘Guitar Hero’ software (including any expansion packs) and the guitar controller provided by Activision being used as a musical instrument (packaged with the software or sold standalone) are covered by the … patent
… Gibson requests that Activision obtain a license under Gibson’s … patent or halt sales of any version of the ‘Guitar Hero’ game software.

Activision definitely isn’t going to halt any sales, and if they gets their way they aren’t going to obtain a license either. They claim that they have not infringed on that patent, and that Gibson has given an implied license by waiting three years to raise the claim. It seems to me like Gibson is just trying to make some easy money off of an established franchise. Not so great anymore now that you’re the one being exploited, is it Activision?

[Via Evil Avatar]