Konami Issues Patent Lawsuit Against Rockband
Konami has recently filed a lawsuit against Harmonix, MTV Networks, and Viacom alleging that Rock Band violates patents that were filed in 2002 and 2003.
Almost a decade ago Konami came out with a Jappenese arcade game known as GuitarFreaks. It was a music game in Japanese arcades that utilized guitar controllers. Now Konami is trying to block Harmonix from using its’ inventions, which is the guitar controllers in this case. Konami is asking for a cash compensation from Harmonix and Viacom, which i have a feeling will not happen. Viacom has not received a copy of the complaint or suit so therefore can not do anything about it.
It also sounds like Konami may go after the Guitar Hero franchise with a lawsuit, but Konami has not released any information related to this topic. It is going to be very interesting how these accuxzations will be settled and whether or not Konami will win the lawsuit.
VS. 
Does Konami have patents on their inventions? If not, they can’t file a lawsuit. They may have patent applications filed in 2002 and 2003, but that doesn’t mean they were granted patents.
July 11th, 2008 at 2:26 pm