Activision Guitar Hero Patent Trouble

[Hadrian]

Oopsie.

Source

Activision, the publisher of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, is being taken to court over claims that the trademarks registered over its popular music titles have little to do with the operations of the actual products.

A group going by the name "Patent Compliance Group" has filed suit in the Texas Northern District Court, alleging that while Activision's music games are all marked with "patented" or "patent pending" on the box or manual, the publisher is either fibbing and doesn't hold the relevant patent, or the patent is does hold is so loosely related to how the game actually works that it's not applicable.

Under US laws, any product found to have misled the public in making this claim can be fined up to $500 per item sold. Seeing as this suit covers Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero and DJ Hero, that's a lot of money Activision stands to lose if found guilty.

That's a big "if", however; the past few years have seen a surge in the popularity of these type of patent cases, with mysterious "groups" like the one in question here taking advantage of the latest craze in lawsuits filed against big companies.

The motives of the Patent Compliance Group are irrelevant if Activision is actually found guilty, however, so we'll keep half an eye on how this one progresses as the months wear on.

Sales:
GH5 nearly 1 million.
DJ Hero nearly 800,000
Band Hero nearly 600,000
2.4 million copies altogether (not included GH:SH sales), if Activision loses this they'll be in the shit.

 

[syko5150]

does that include the sales of all the accessories for those games too? like Guitar Hero 5 guitar and DJ Hero Turntables? or just the games themselves?

 

[tanvm07]

If the suit thingy is sucsessful there in big trouble but i doubt it will be

 

[Law]

Oopsie.

Source

Activision, the publisher of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, is being taken to court over claims that the trademarks registered over its popular music titles have little to do with the operations of the actual products.

A group going by the name "Patent Compliance Group" has filed suit in the Texas Northern District Court, alleging that while Activision's music games are all marked with "patented" or "patent pending" on the box or manual, the publisher is either fibbing and doesn't hold the relevant patent, or the patent is does hold is so loosely related to how the game actually works that it's not applicable.

Under US laws, any product found to have misled the public in making this claim can be fined up to $500 per item sold. Seeing as this suit covers Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero and DJ Hero, that's a lot of money Activision stands to lose if found guilty.

That's a big "if", however; the past few years have seen a surge in the popularity of these type of patent cases, with mysterious "groups" like the one in question here taking advantage of the latest craze in lawsuits filed against big companies.

The motives of the Patent Compliance Group are irrelevant if Activision is actually found guilty, however, so we'll keep half an eye on how this one progresses as the months wear on.

Sales:
GH5 nearly 1 million.
DJ Hero nearly 800,000
Band Hero nearly 600,000
2.4 million copies altogether (not included GH:SH sales), if Activision loses this they'll be in the shit.

Then I guess we can only hope for the best

 

[Hadrian]

Not sure, here is the original source which shows more detail.

http://www.patentarcade.com/2010/02/mark-a...activision.html

 

[syko5150]

hmm it doesn't say anything about accessories...but it sure would suck for Activision to have to pay all that money on those games and even worse for them if all the accessories bought are included especially since a lot of people who didnt even buy the games bought the guitars/drums/mics/turntables and downloaded the game.

 

[Maikel Steneker]

Ouch, that's a pretty big problem. I don't think they'll lose this, I'm sure they've already thought of this happening and prepared for it. Either way, paying this much per sold game/accessoire is completely unreasonable.

 

[injected11]

Remember when GH3 Wii was released with mono sound only, despite the box advertising dolby surround sound?