Gibson and Harmonix settle guitar-focused lawsuit

With development of Rock Band 3 in full force, Harmonix has one less thing to worry about, as the company has settled the lawsuit launched against the developer by Gibson. The guitar company had sued Harmonix, EA, Viacom, and a group of retailers for infringing on its virtual guitar patent.

Gibson Guitar Corp. had originally targeted both the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises with the original lawsuit, filed back in 2008. The company settled out of court with Activision last year (link via Gamasutra), and did the same yesterday with all parties involved with Rock Band, according to BusinessWeek. All of the companies involved notified the Nashville, TN federal court trying the cast that a "full settlement" had been released, aiming to have the case dismissed by next Monday.

Both music franchises aren't completely out of the legal fog yet, as Harmonix is in the final stages of settling a lawsuit filed by Konami regarding Rock Band's infringement on patents created for Guitar Freaks (via Patent Arcade), while Activision was recently slapped with a suit by the members of No Doubt due to the nature of the band's inclusion in Band Hero.

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With development of Rock Band 3 in full force, Harmonix has one less thing to worry about, as the company has settled the lawsuit launched against the developer by Gibson. The guitar company had sued Harmonix, EA, Viacom, and a group of retailers for infringing on its virtual guitar patent.

Gibson Guitar Corp. had originally targeted both the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises with the original lawsuit, filed back in 2008. The company settled out of court with Activision last year (link via Gamasutra), and did the same yesterday with all parties involved with Rock Band, according to BusinessWeek. All of the companies involved notified the Nashville, TN federal court trying the cast that a "full settlement" had been released, aiming to have the case dismissed by next Monday.

Both music franchises aren't completely out of the legal fog yet, as Harmonix is in the final stages of settling a lawsuit filed by Konami regarding Rock Band's infringement on patents created for Guitar Freaks (via Patent Arcade), while Activision was recently slapped with a suit by the members of No Doubt due to the nature of the band's inclusion in Band Hero.