More Mystery Surrounding Gibson Vs Activision Patent Violations

Remember that lawsuit that Gibson filed against Activision over patent violations? Well here's an interesting fact about the patent in question. Gibson filed it the same year that Guitar Freaks made its debut in Japan.

The year was 1999, and the release of Guitar Hero was still years away. However, Japan was well ahead of us in the music simulation games. Konami released a game called Guitar Freaks, which could be described as an early predecessor to Guitar Hero. What is now being questioned is whether or not Gibson saw the success of the game in Japan and decided to file a US patent in case something like that were to hit the US.

The other big question still remains. Why bother to wait this long to file a lawsuit against a company over a game that they sponsor? Seriously, how could they have forgotten that they had an old patent lying around for this long. I smell something fishy.

[via Next-Generation]