RedOctane & The Ant Commandos Settle Guitar Hero Controller Dispute

As expected, on December 22 The Ant Commandos and RedOctane settled their Guitar Hero controller/peripheral suit and countersuit. 1Up.com summarizes the dispute in this amusing way:

Anyway, so RedOctane sued the Ant Commandos, claiming rights infringement on their popular Gibson SG brand of guitar controllers. The Commandos fired back claiming that the SG stepped all over their existing patents on technology for 3-button Guitar Freaks! guitars. Everybody was fingerpointing, it sucked.

While details of the settlement have not been disclosed a representative of Ant Commandos confirmed to GameSpot that its products would continue to be distributed. Jack Black and the Rightous Gods of Rock will be happy with this outcome!

Dale’s Comment: Until I discovered that neither the Ant Commando nor the RedOctane controllers will work with the PS3, one of the primary reasons I wanted to purchase a PS3 was to play Guitar Hero. I had hoped that like most PS2 games, it would be playable on the PS3. Happily, Guitar Hero 2 is coming to the XBox 360 so I won’t need to purchase a PS2 in order to finally play this game.

Sources: Gamasutra | GameSpot | 1UP.com | GameIndustry.biz

• Gibson Sues MTV, EA & Harmonix over Guitar Patent (March 21, 2008)
• Gibson Sues U.S. Retailers Over Guitar Hero Patent Dispute (March 20, 2008)
• Activision Asks Court to Invalidate Gibson’s Guitar Hero Patent Claims (March 12, 2008)
• Harmonix Brings $14.5M Royalty Suit Against Activision - Sort-of (March 10, 2008)
• Activision Settles with Two Former Guitar Hero Executives (April 2, 2007)
• Activision Sues Ant Commandos and Former Guitar Hero Executives (February 9, 2007)
• RedOctane & The Ant Commandos in Settlement Discussions (October 30, 2006)
• The Ant Commandos Coutersues RedOctane for Trade Dress Infringement (September 21, 2006)
• Redoctane Sues The Ant Commandos over Peripheral (September 20, 2006)

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