If you're coming onto this thread, thinking "what is THIS..?", then you're reaction's going to be similar to mine, when I first saw this.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/21/gibson-fires-guitar-hero-lawsuit-at-wal-mart-other-retailers/ <-- link

Now, my opinion on this is that this whole lawsuit doesn't really have ANY depth to it. I mean, if Guitar Hero was in violation of any patents, then Activision wouldn't have even shipped the game with that design if guitar.
This just smells like (nay, REEKS like) a lame promotional attempt by Gibson to try to attract some attention to their slowly dwindling company that seems to have been overshadowed by the easier-to-play Guitar Hero III.

What do you guys think of this?

apparently, the gibson patent requires actual instruments (which the GH controllers aren't) so there's no way the lawsuit will work.

It always depends on the patent. And how a court (and Patent office) views it. A court may
agree with Gibson.

And just fyi, companies infringe on patents all the time and hope they don't get caught. Sometimes it's only slightly, and sometimes it's really big. So it might infringe on a patent and Activision shipped anyways.

However, considering how long GH has been out, you would have thought Gibson would have caught it sooner...

For *slightly* more info:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080312/tc_nm/activision_gibson_dc

gibson tried to patent "simulating a musical performance"???

I think what is stupid, what was being clearly stated in one of the other articles about this, is that is has taken them this long to file a lawsuit against a patent breach. I am in a small state of shock. However, it isnt all bad, because if Gibson drop GH, then GH will focus on the Les Paul guitars, and look for song licensing elsewhere if necessary. This means that they will work on the Les Paul guitars more and the PS3 owners may get a Les Paul with GH: Aerosmith. More on that l8r. YES, GH are planning a new spin-off, GH: Aerosmith. I'm buzzing. "I think that will be one of my articles", I think to myself...

Ya, gh controllers are not even real instruments. All that the guitar hero controllers have in common with gibson is design. I doubt that this lawsuit will work. And if it works in Gibson's favor, I would have lost all respect for Gibson and sell my Les Paul guitar. :angry:

I think the Les Paul guitar looks better than the Gibson. Love the explorer. it's a very strange case Gibson are trying to fight though. They have been working with Activision for 4 GH games, and now they find a patent breach? ridiculous.

This bodes well for my "first person battle simulator" patent, not to mention my NFL football and car racing simulator patents .

Thats just lame tbh:P Its plastic guitars!

I also found out that Gibson made a guitar controller toy that was officially sponsored by Gibson called: "Gibson Power Tour" or something like that. Talk about hypocrite.

That's just plain stupid. So many of my friends play real guitar right now because they played GH. If you ask me Gibson should be thanking Red Octane and Activision for making the guitar in the Les Paul design.

Oh, where's Lono when you need him? He'd be able to tell us something about the laws and crap like that.:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:

That's just plain stupid. So many of my friends play real guitar right now because they played GH. If you ask me Gibson should be thanking Red Octane and Activision for making the guitar in the Les Paul design.

Oh, where's Lono when you need him? He'd be able to tell us something about the laws and crap like that.:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:

See, I don't think that Gibson realises this. That, or if they do, they're doing it purely for even MORE publicity for their product. We've clearly deduced that this lawsuit has no depth or substance to it, so this can be the only reason for it. But, as it's only on Engadget, I doubt that they're really getting the amount of publicity that they're hoping for.
Come to think of it... I'm kinda in the mood for learning guitar now... They really make it seem pretty cool on the game.. And ridculously easy.

This is why Rockband pwns

This is why Rockband pwns

That is so very true.