Konami have sued Harmonix (well their parent company, Viacom) over their Rock Band game for apparently infringing on a patent filed years earlier by Konami for a "musical-rhythm matching game" predating the patent filed by Harmonix for Rock Band.

Konami filed their patents pre-1999 for the games Guitar Freaks and DrumMania, which were released in Japan (Guitar Freaks actually made it to the US) and are now seeking monetary compensation and are also asking for an order to block the sale or use of Harmonix's peripherals for Rock Band (there's no telling what may, or may not, come of Guitar Hero World Tour, but if it is stopped, Konami you're in trouble...).

You can read the full story here on Bloomberg's Japan, but it just looks a lot like sour grapes in the wake of Konami announcing they'd be releasing their own rhythm game, Rock Revolution. Of course if you had legal recourse wouldn't you try and take a piece of the pie? Thoughts welcome...

Seems odd they'd go after Rock Band and not Guitar Hero as well at the same time. Although, I guess that would cost 2x as much, so maybe they can just see if they win this one and then go after GH.

Also, how good are software patents?

Seems odd they'd go after Rock Band and not Guitar Hero as well at the same time.

Can Harmonix bring that issue up in court? I doubt you can cherry pick who you sue, can you?

Also, how good are software patents?

You mean sitting back, waiting AGES for your extremely general patent to be very widely 'infringed', then come in for the stab?

Oh god... now australia will never see Rock Band...

or rock band 2?

I guess that would cost 2x as much

why?

Quite frankly anyoen that slaps Viacom and gets away with it is ok by me, particularly after the s*** Viacom pulled with google over the youtube BS recently.

You mean the s*** that Viacom is pulling with google/youtube. It's still an on going case.

why?

I would guess lawyers would find a way to make 2 lawsuits cost 2x as much as 1 lawsuit - they are a cunning breed

budum tsch

I would guess lawyers would find a way to make 2 lawsuits cost 2x as much as 1 lawsuit - they are a cunning breed

You know how I reckon law suits should be handled?

1: Both parties submit to full asset disclosure before any lawsuit can take place.
2: A neutral arbitrator, deems how much each other could afford to utilise before doing permanent financial damage to themselves (ie bankruptcy etc) and set this as a maximum expenditure limitation for both parties and a maximum timelimit before a decision .
3: A set time limit for the case to be resolved (eg: waiting for the other party to die before a ruling can be made).

Ideally, this sort of scenario would then limit the overwhelming ability of financial giants from burying "the little guy" in red tape, providing an even opportunity.

Oh god... now australia will never see Rock Band...

Yeah, yeah, I know. As soon as we can announce dates in other territories outside the US we will. Stay tuned for more info about this at E3! The window will be smaller this time around, for reals.

And you're announcing that Electric Six is in Rock Band 2 at E3, right?

(Hey, I can live in hope)

New drum kit for Rock Band 2. I know its not exactly topic related but still...

http://kotaku.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/07/iondrums.jpg

Ok now they are just begging Konami to sue them even harder. Not to mention that it is just stupid. I guess if you want to be hardcore at fake drums this is the way to go. Apparently they can double as an electronic drum kit as well when you unplug them. All for the low price of $300 US. What really bothers me though is that these are wireless. Exactly how the hell do you power this thing? And is wires REALLY that bad when we are talking about a drum kit here? Sure guitars you can walk around with but a huge, clunky f*** off drumkit?

EDIT - Ok now that I think about it, the price isn't that shocking really. Japan has been doing this for awhile with their rhythm games. GuitarFreaks, Drummania, Beatmania IIDX all got premium controllers that were all around $300 US, being as they were pretty much arcade quality grade for the home consoles. Still, tons of people bought them.

EDIT 2 - I actually have a question for those who may know out there. I want to buy a drum kit from the states so I can play drummania on my PC as trying to play it is nearly impossible on a keyboard. Will the US drum kit be compatible with the PAL 360 when rock band finally decides to grace us with its presence?

last edited by DM at 14:28:21 13/Jul/08

Thats a third party drum kit, its made by Ion. Reading up a bit, it seems Ion's electronic drums aren't that well respected and have a reputation for being a bit on the poorly made and crap side of the fence, so I dunno if I'd be rushing out to drop $300 on that.

It also doesn't come with the third cymbal attached, that costs extra.

And yeah, the US peripherals work on the PAL versions. A few people at work are importing the PAL version of the game from the UK then buying the peripherals from the US cos its cheaper.

last edited by Khel at 15:52:27 13/Jul/08

And yeah, the US peripherals work on the PAL versions. A few people at work are importing the PAL version of the game from the UK then buying the peripherals from the US cos its cheaper

Holy crap I never thought of doing that. Goodbye next paycheck