Now Guitar Hero is accused of patent enfringement

Just hours after it transpired that developer Harmonix had filed and then withdrawn a lawsuit against Activision over alleged unpaid royalties, Reuters reports that guitar firm Gibson has made a move to sue the Guitar Hero publsher for patent enfringement.

The manufacturer said that Guitar Hero, which was published by Red Octane and developed by Harmonix until Activision acquired the former in 2006, violated a patent over ‘technology for simulating a musical performance’.

Gibson made the complaint in a letter sent to the publisher in January – Activision has already fired back, said Reuters, asking the U.S. District Court for Central California to declare Gibson’s patent invalid and bar it from seeking any damages.

However, Gibson and Activision have worked together before, with officially licenced Guitar Hero controllers modelled on the guitar firm’s products.