Comments on: Music game lawsuit chain

By: Patent thicket consumes video games | Prodigeek

Patent thicket consumes video games | Prodigeek — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:14:20 +0000

[...] Ralph Koster outlines the tangled web of patents covering the popular world of music-based video games.� A patent thicket describes when several patents cover a single product, owned by several different groups.� Music based video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are finding themselves mixed up in a web of lawsuits.� First Konami is suing Harmonix for patents on music games, even though Harmonix has its own assortment of music game patents (including a patent on a “game controller simulating a musical instrument”).� Konami previous made GuitarFreaks and is looking to get back into the music game genre since Harmonix help make it such a success (more than Konami ever did). [...]

By: Kerri Knight

Kerri Knight — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:01:46 +0000

IIIIIIIII’m my own grandpa!!!

By: tallimar

tallimar — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:52:30 +0000

hmmm… rock’em sock’em robot court cases… sounds like fun! that is after i find the pieces of my head and put them back together with duct tape.

By: Michael Chui

Michael Chui — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 09:54:20 +0000

Obviously, the time has come for legal battles to be fought using remote-controlled mecha. Now I’m going to resist searching for an existing patent on that.

By: Eolirin

Eolirin — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:36:08 +0000

To be fair, we don’t really know what the particular patents *are* because Raph only summarized. It’s still broken because of this insanity, but it’s not very likely that they’re bickering over patents about the broader concept of “a music game”. It’s much more likely they’re bickering over patents regarding the peripherals, UI elements, and code assets rather than complete intangibles like “rythm” and “games about playing music”.

It’s still crazy. Everyone involved in these suits are making large sums of money off of their game sales. They don’t need to be trying to kill each other via the courts.

By: BadMisterFrosty

BadMisterFrosty — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:51:25 +0000

The mechanics of those games are so basic, that it is embarrassing that people can claim rights on them. Making music is intrinsically about hitting something in time, which is called a rythm. So it looks like the genius patents are on the same level as patenting loading bars or playing a game while loading and other no-brainer stuff. I only wait for the day when an american patents “the act of inhaling air in order to charge blood with oxygen”. I now have confidence.

By: Amaranthar

Amaranthar — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:24:16 +0000

So if a gamer creates content in a game that claims all rights to said content, then goes to another game and re-creates the same content, that gamer can go directly to jail and not collect $200 ?

By: Peter S.

Peter S. — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:59:03 +0000

Man, if I was a lawyer, I’d be wiping drool off my chin after reading that.

By: Ola Fosheim Grøstad

Ola Fosheim Grøstad — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:09:48 +0000

Relocate to Europe and switch to online distribution…

By: Dan Kelly

Dan Kelly — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:55:29 +0000

Who’s on first?