Guitar Hero Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Now in its fifth year, the wildly successful and lucrative Guitar Hero is under attack. Its patent claims are being challenged by Patent Compliance Group, Inc. The group asserts that Activision (Guitar Hero’s distributer) marked its games with “patented” or “patent pending” status, when in fact, they were not. According to PCG, the scope of Activision’s patents doesn’t cover the actual products.

Furthermore, PCG’s complaint states that Activision “intended to deceive the public by marking (or causing to be marked the out of scope [Guitar Hero] products with the [Guitar Hero] patent.”

If the group is successful, it could walk away with close to a billion dollars, as it is demanding $500 dollars per game sold since 2005. Due to the difficulty PCG will have in proving actual intent to deceive and insufficient scope, this amount seems a bit far fetched.