Konami takes Harmonix to court over Rock Band

Posted Jul 11th 2008 10:45AM by Dustin Burg
Filed under: News

When the video game music genre gets too tough to compete, Konami has a master plan. They say screw trying to develop something new and innovative or even attempting to copy their competitors. Why go through all that work when you can sue?

This past Wednesday in a Texas District Court, Konami filed a lawsuit against Harmonix, MTV Games and EA claiming that Rock Band infringes on three of their patents. Specifically, Konami claims that several of their patents from older titles like Guitar Freaks, Drummania, and Pop'n Music were ignored and therefore Rock Band is a franchise based on lies and deceit. What happend to the whole idea of music bringing people together?

Tags: ea, harmonix, konami, mtv-games, rock-band, rock-band-2

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

7-11-2008 @ 10:51AM

Boff said...

You know you've hit the bigtime if someone wants to take you to court.

7-11-2008 @ 10:55AM

Gemini Ace said...

I like lies and deceit. Bring on Rock Band 2!

7-11-2008 @ 10:55AM

VPhoenix said...

This doesn't sound frivolous to me. Many people here will Konami's line of music games for the arcade---there were clearly in this space first. I'm amazed they haven't gone after Harmonix sooner.

At any rate, I hope this can be resolved amicably (and without delaying Rock Band 2!).

7-11-2008 @ 10:56AM

VPhoenix said...

Will remember, that is. Bah.

7-11-2008 @ 2:07PM

Kev (gamertag: ksiddique) said...

Is this *the* VPhoenix?!

7-11-2008 @ 2:22PM

VPhoenix said...

Indeed it is! Nice to run into you here. :)

7-12-2008 @ 5:33PM

Author X said...

Yeah, they were here first, but being competition for the same market doesn't mean they infringed copyrights.

7-11-2008 @ 11:06AM

Ben said...

If there are patent infringements on Guitar Freaks, why isn't Activision being sued as well?

7-11-2008 @ 11:10AM

Tyr1n said...

I'm not sure i quite understand the legal system. a controller is a controller. if its shaped like a chainsaw, a guitar, a leg or a drum-set and has buttons it's still a controller. how can you have patents on a type of game? Neversoft better get on ea for making a skateboarding game lol (i kid).

another thought... why hasnt konami gone after neversoft for guitar hero? or the makers of in the groove?

7-11-2008 @ 11:28AM

Octantis said...

In the article it states that on the GH3 website it displays the patent numbers Konami is suing over. So more than likely GH3 has paid Konami for use of its patents.

7-11-2008 @ 11:37AM

VPhoenix said...

Maybe they did, and Neversoft already settled with them.

Alternatively, since Harmonix were the ones who actually created Guitar Hero, maybe Konami's hoping for a symbolic victory against them first before they start shaking everyone else down.

7-11-2008 @ 1:11PM

Shadowman said...

They did, Why do you think there isn't a ITG3.
I seriously don't understand why there bringing Pop'n into this, when the hell do you have to hit 9 buttons during Rock Band?

7-11-2008 @ 11:25AM

Octantis said...

A patent is only strong if you choose to defend it. Since Konami waited so long to go to court to sue Harmonix it could be argued that they chose not to defend their patent and thus could lose any right to it. Harmonix could also counter sue Konami for waiting until Konami had a competing product to Rock Band before bringing it to court to gum up RB2.

More than likely Harmonix has a patent that Konami is going to use and they will agree to drop the case and share the patents.

7-11-2008 @ 11:52AM

BlackFreefall said...

Were Konami sleeping when Guitar Heroes 1, 2, and 3 came out?

7-11-2008 @ 12:00PM

jh said...

Laches FTW.

7-11-2008 @ 1:12PM

Tomas said...

actually Konami is right to be suing over this.
they've been doing music games right since the first PlayStation in Japan. so there~! Rock Band is a huge rip-off. i'm actually just surprised they didn't take them to court any earlier...

7-11-2008 @ 1:31PM

ccc said...

Bah, I say sue EA any chance you get, the monopolizing bastards.
While your at it sue MTV for turing into an ass tv station when it used to be the best thing on tv:(
You younger kids would'nt remember that though.

7-11-2008 @ 1:51PM

Tegolin said...

Maybe they can pay to use it in DLC.

7-11-2008 @ 2:09PM

Edo Rinaldi said...

Go Konami, Shut Them Down. WOOOOoooo

7-12-2008 @ 4:49PM

Yozef Pandaface said...

So, you got money?

Let me get some that money.

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