Gibson Sues More Than Just Activision Over Virtual Music Concert Patent

Legal Issues

from the who-else-can-we-sue dept

Remember how Activision had preemptively sued Gibson for a declaratory judgment that it didn’t infringe on a really questionable patent concerning a computerized guitar for a “virtual” concert? Well, Gibson has now struck back, and it’s not just suing Activision, but almost all the retailers who sell it as well, including Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Amazon.com, Toys ‘R’ Us and GameStop. The idea, clearly, is to have those retailers put pressure on Activision. Update: Wired reports that the lawsuit also covers a bunch of other companies. Basically, Gibson is suing anyone even remotely connected to video games that involve fake guitars.

Of course, there are all sorts of questionable things about this lawsuit. As we pointed out when Activision first sued, Gibson’s patent doesn’t seem similar to “Guitar Hero” at all. It talks about playing a real concert, with a real guitar (with strings) attached to a head mounted display. Also, as Activision points out, Gibson didn’t care about the patent as long as Activision and Gibson had a marketing agreement. They only started calling for patent infringement after the marketing agreement ended. Finally, suing retailers for selling the game is quite sketchy. In fact, the Supreme Court just heard a case looking at whether or not that was legit, and the Justices sounded quite skeptical. Gibson is clearly posturing to try to push for a settlement — and in the process, showing yet another way to abuse the patent system.

Filed Under: guitar hero, lawsuits, patents, retailers, supply chain
Companies: activision, amazon, gamestop, gibson, kmart, target, toys r us, wal-mart

GameStop Suspends Manager Who Won't Sell Games To Kids With Bad Grades

Culture

from the can't-support-that-type-of-policy dept

Last week the news spread about a manager of a GameStop video game store in Dallas who, without corporate approval, had instituted a policy to encourage good grades. The policy was that he wouldn’t sell video games to kids unless an adult confirms that the kid got good grades… and if the kid had straight As, the manager would buy him or her a free game. However, as the Raw Feed points out, it appears that GameStop wasn’t too happy with this policy and has suspended the guy. This really isn’t a huge surprise (going against corporate policy doesn’t often end well), but the community reaction to the whole thing certainly suggests that there’s a market for this kind of “good grades policy,” and if GameStop won’t allow it, then perhaps other video game stores might test it out to try to attract more business. It sounds like a lot of parents would support it. Of course, there’s really nothing stopping parents from instituting the identical policy on their own… Also, you could just as easily argue the opposite position as well. If one retailer offers that policy and others don’t, all the kids with bad grades are about to head over to the other store. Which do you think is the larger market?

Filed Under: good grades, students, video games
Companies: gamestop