Gibson Guitar says Activision’s Guitar Hero violates a 10-year-old patent Gibson owns for a virtual reality music system. Activision says that isn’t the case and in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles asked a federal judge to settle the matter. Gamers who play Guitar Hero use wireless controllers shaped like guitars, most of them modeled after famous Gibsons, an jam along with animated on-screen musicians.

Activision pays an undisclosed amount for Gibson’s trademark under a license agreement. It is unclear when that agreement expires. The Gibson patent, granted in November 1999, outlines a system that simulates a concert experience with a head-mounted display with speakers, an eight-channel mixer, a DVD player and a guitar. Activision’s suit says Gibson forfeited its rights by failing to raise the patent issue earlier. In a March 10 letter to Gibson, Activision’s senior litigation counsel, Mary Tuck, said that the game company was not interested in renewing the license and marketing support agreement with Gibson, and that was why Gibson has brought up the patent.

Source: Los Angeles Times