Gibson, Activision spar over Guitar Hero

You know those grainy, black-and-white interludes on "Behind the Music," when formerly chummy bandmates get drunk, throw TVs at each other, and storm out of the studio? That's what's happening between Activision, the developer of the Guitar Hero series, and legendary guitar maker Gibson, which licenses its guitar designs to Activision for the Guitar Hero games.

Gibson launched the first salvo in January, according to the APGuitar Hero and its spawn violated a 1999 Gibson patent for "technology for simulating a musical performance."

The patent in question details a product that would "simulate participation in a concert by playing a musical instrument and wearing a head-mounted 3-D display that includes stereo speakers," among other (via Yahoo! News), when it sent a letter to Activision alleging that Guitar Hero-like features.

In its letter, Gibson demanded that Activision "obtain a license" under the 1999 patent (i.e., show us the money), or else stop selling the game altogether.

Activision fired back with a lawsuit in federal court, noting that Gibson "waited three years to make its patent allegations" (this from CNET News.com) and seeking to clear the Guitar Hero

And now, Gibson is suing several big-name retailers—including Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Amazon, GameStop, and Toys "R" Us—demanding that they stop selling Guitar Hero games, or face the consequences.

Of course, when you have a big hit of any kind—like a blockbuster movie, a bestselling novel, or in this case, a chart-topping game—it's not unusual for someone to come creeping out of the woodwork, lawsuit in hand, claiming that they had the idea first.

But the "someone" in this scenario in Gibson, which (as far as I saw, at least) had a relatively cozy relationship with Activision, given that franchise of infringing on Gibson's patent.Guitar Hero III comes with a wireless Gibson guitar.

So, what's the deal? Is there any merit to Gibson's claims? Is it all about money? Are we talking bruised egos here? It looks like an old marketing deal that went south (check out the CNET story for more) might be part of the problem, but details are murky, for now.

Related:
Gibson Guitar Sues Retailers Over Game [AP, via Yahoo! News]