Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly" - Kotaku Comments

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

NineTentsDojo — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:17:00 MDT

So, does no one else think it's strange that the last half of Gibson's "statement...in Regards to Guitar Hero Retailer Lawsuit" is essentially an advertisement for Gibson?

Methinks that the game is afoot.

NineTentsDojo

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

ach77 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:04:59 MDT

You know, when someone is suing you for millions of dollars, it really doesn't make things any better for them to say that they're *reluctantly* suing you for millions of dollars. Just sayin'.

ach77

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

The Amazing Exploding-Man — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 07:26:26 MDT

@freakoflink: LOL dude. EA not evil. Yes, the big blob that devours and sucks the life out of other developers is not evil. Neither is Satan, Hitler, or the RIAA.

The Amazing Exploding-Man

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

TrevWolf — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:27:23 MDT

@Demaar: And here was me hoping for an annual series of 70/80's Hair-band themed games too. With some really, really disturbing 3D character models thrown in.

TrevWolf

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

coach_mcguirk — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:21:58 MDT

Gibson = the late 80s Atari of the guitar world? (i.e. retrospectively suing based on extremely vague patents from the past).

coach_mcguirk

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Grekomon — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:02:16 MDT

@freakoflink: My GH3 for 360 controller says Gibson on top.

Grekomon

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

bwwardiii — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:46:14 MDT

@Demaar: YES! Thats perfect! Hopefully this distracts them and drains them of enough money to make them NOT put extra little crap games out there. Although... If you think about it. Guitar hero Aerosmith is a LOT quicker and cheaper to make than GH4... so... Unfortunately this may have the effect of even more "gimmicky" stuff like GH: Aerosmith and less work on GH4... If it even has the drastic enough of an effect at all.

bwwardiii

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Demaar — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:34:47 MDT

We can only hope that this ends Guitar Hero Aerosmith.

Demaar

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

SeedyROM — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:42:16 MDT

Yet another reason I love my Fender.

SeedyROM

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

ca$h — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:30:00 MDT

@last_dread:
Whatever Voldemort

ca$h

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Mr. Mastodon Farm — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:27:54 MDT

Good thing Guitar Hero is completely obsolete now that Rock Band came along

Mr. Mastodon Farm

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

TheFlyingB — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:05:55 MDT

As a person in the music instrument sales field, these games are paid by Gibson for their guitars to be in them. Krank amplifiers used a game and Metalocalypse product placement to build their product from nowhere. There was basically a bidding war to sponsor Rock Band after seeing what GH did for it's sponsors. Gibson has used these tactics for years. TONS of advertising, mediocre product. They also sue other companies left and right. This is far from the first time they've started a sue war that made no sense. Look a few years ago when they sued PRS for basically making a guitar. This is pretty much par for the course.

TheFlyingB

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

last_dread — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:49:40 MDT

yess...YESSSSS...
and so the demise of guitar hero begins

last_dread

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

erthos — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:34:12 MDT

@Pornosaur: Yeah, it does. And the newest GH controller has a "Kramer" logo on the headstock, which is a subdivision of Gibson.

erthos

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Pornosaur — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:28:17 MDT

This is why Metroid 2 home gfx make over can get taken out by the laywers.

If I recall the "Guitar Hero" controllers have no branding on them what so ever, it's just a guitar, it doesn't say gibson at the head of the neck. Suing retaliers is a back door tatic of course, interesting on how this plays out.

Pornosaur

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

NPlace — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:26:29 MDT

I bet they're not suing THAT reluctantly.

NPlace

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

erthos — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:25:52 MDT

@Polywhirl: lol dude - its not about the name - they WERE paying Gibson for the right to have their instrument licensing. It is the peripheral.

erthos

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

erthos — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:24:22 MDT

EA's definitely not evil.

In game adverts? I could give a shit. EA owns some of the biggest developers in the business, and most of them produce really good games; though, not bereft of shovelwear.

But anyways -

Gibson's pulling a dick move with this; it's pissing me off. Why would they wait this long? I'm sure they are just trying to capitalize on the recent success of the Guitar Hero brand name. I mean really - what about that Arcade guitar game in Japan made by Konami? Or the variety of other "electronic guitar simulators" as Gibson calls them.

erthos

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Drake Lake: Phase Lunaire — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:06:14 MDT

@Polywhirl:
I did it without the insult though :3

Drake Lake: Phase Lunaire

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Polywhirl — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:05:02 MDT

@DrakeLake: @y2julio: Man, I somehow just really misread the original article.
...I don't even know how I managed to do that.

Brain fart?

Polywhirl

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

jayntampa — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:59:01 MDT

That line "Activision chose to initiate litigation without notice to Gibson" is the most interesting one. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out.

jayntampa

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

RickyTV — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:56:34 MDT

That's one intense game of Pong going on there.

RickyTV

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

y2julio — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:52:00 MDT

@Polywhirl: Um no. Have you been following this lawsuit or are you just grasping at straws from the sky?
[www.reuters.com]

y2julio

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Drake Lake: Phase Lunaire — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:49:05 MDT

@Polywhirl:
[kotaku.com]
???

Drake Lake: Phase Lunaire

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

MonkeyBiz — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:48:02 MDT

Guitar Freaks was made before the patent from Gibson. Gibson saw the success of Guitar Freaks and basically patented the game. I suspect they waited until now since...

Activision was paying licensing fees to Gibson over model and brand use

Activision no longer wants Gibson in their party and/or wants to pay less.

The bookie doesn't break your legs until you stop paying him......

MonkeyBiz

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

boxofthegods — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:46:31 MDT

@Adam:
I've been wondering about this for some time, I wonder if gibson brought the issue to harmonix and mtv parent company paid what ever fee was neccsary.
@Erwin:
They didn't sue over guitar freeks because it not out in america, I'm fairly certain that patents are only vaild in the country that they are filed in but don't quote me on that.

boxofthegods

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Polywhirl — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:45:18 MDT

@Adam: They're suing GH for the likeness and name-brand rights, not the toy guitar itself.

Rock Band uses Fender, and they're paying them their licensing fees.

The problem is, Activision wasn't paying Gibson license fees for using the Gibson logo in-game.

Polywhirl

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

mpdrec — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:36:23 MDT

Maybe they didnt sue Guitar Freaks because their patent was a US patent and doesn't apply to games made in Japan?! Just speculation, if someone knows the answer please feel free to let me know.

mpdrec

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Adam — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:35:13 MDT

Uh... what about Rock Band? Don't they use the same basic toy guitar technology?

Adam

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

cybereality — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:31:24 MDT

Confirmed: Fender Sponsors GHIV

cybereality

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

fuchikoma — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:26:06 MDT

Argue that it was an inevitable discovery.
Point to Guitar Freaks.
Point out how the Gibson patent was clearly not the basis for GH or GF.
???
PROFIT!

fuchikoma

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Erwin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:17:29 MDT

This is clearly money related Gibson. I sure didn't see them sue over Guitar Freaks, which was nowhere near as popular. I'm just confused as to why they're doing this now, well after having their brand and guitars all over the previous successful iterations.
@Redface, The Dark Messiah of Justice: See what? Please explain.

Erwin

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Agies — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:13:12 MDT

This is some kind of magical bullshit. There's no reason they have to sue retailers.

Agies

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

daizyujin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:09:41 MDT

Gibson can suck my dick.

daizyujin

Gibson Sues Guitar Hero Retailers "Reluctantly"

Redface, The Dark Messiah of Justice — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:06:38 MDT

See? This is why Activision is more evil than EA.

Redface, The Dark Messiah of Justice