Guitar manufacturer Gibson is suing Activision, claiming the Guitar Hero videogames violate a patent for “simulating a musical performance.”
Activision has asked a federal court to rule the claim invalid. Continued…
It’s the battle of the fake plastic-guitar karaoke bands!
Viacom has dropped its lawsuit against Activision, having cowed the Santa Monica, California-based games publisher into negotiating out of court. Viacom owns Harmonix, creators of the first two Guitar Hero games and Rock Band.
Viacom’s claim is that Activision owes $14.5 million in royalties over technology used in Guitar Hero III. Continued…
Cami joins us again on Monday! We take a look at our guest for Tuesday. We discuss the Xbox Live problems, and the class action lawsuit that has been filed. Cami saw In the Name of the King and gives us her thoughts.
The story only thickens… Wire recently reported that due the holiday Xbox LIVE outage, Microsoft is issuing a complimentary downloadable game to all current Gold subscribers via it’s LIVE Marketplace. Well, we learned today that three idiots Texans have consulted with their lawyers and decided it would a wise idea to place a class-action suit against the technology giant, stating that the outages represent a breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation for which the company is liable. The plaintiffs allege that “Microsoft knew the increase in subscriptions would increase game-play on its servers, yet failed to provide adequate access and service to Xbox LIVE and its subscribers.”
I give these guys merit for what their trying accomplish, but apparently Texas school districts do not believe in teaching reading comprehension. It took me a less than two minutes of scanning Microsoft’s easily accessible Xbox LIVE Terms of Use statement located on their website, which outlines the fact that their services are “as-is,” to figure out this lawsuit won’t do well. The full clause is printed below.
16. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY
We provide the Service “as-is,” “with all faults” and “as available.” The Microsoft Parties give no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this contract cannot change. To the extent permitted by law, we exclude the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort and non-infringement.
Although I don’t hold a degree in law, or any other collegiate degree for that matter, I can safely assume that these clowns are wasting their time and money.
Source: CNET: Bey0nd B1nary Blog
First Best Buy suffers through the porn-stealing scandal, and now this: censorship advocate Jack Thompson is suing the retail chain for allegedly selling M-rated games to minors.
Thompson claims Best Buy is in violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
Best Buy requires a credit card to purchase an M-rated game, a common practice meant to prevent minors from purchasing such games without parental involvement.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is also included in the suit: Continued…
An attorney whose Second Life account was shut down due to cheating allegations is suing publisher Linden Labs for $8,000 in restitution. The lawsuit, filed in 2006, is finally getting underway this week.
Marc Bragg claims he found a legitimate way to purchase land in Second Life far below market rates. Linden called the technique cheating, and terminated the account as a EULA violation. Bragg lost real estate and currency.
Bragg v. Linden Research charges that Linden “breached an auction contract by allowing the land to auction, accepting online payment, and then suspending plaintiff’s account.” Continued…
As we reported earlier, Too Human developer Silicon Knights sued Epic Games, alleging that Epic sabotaged development of Too Human in favor of their own competing title, Gears of War.
Today Epic Games’ vice president Mark Rein responded, releasing a statement to the gaming media. Epic is counter-suing, claiming SK “misappropriate[d] Epic’s licensed technology.” Epic claims the SK lawsuit “lacks factual or legal merit.” Continued…
A mysterious firm called Parallel Processing Corporation is suing Sony over an alleged patent violation concerning the Cell microprocessor used in the PlayStation 3.
The firm acquired a 15-year-old patent describing “synchronized parallel processing with shared memory,” and now seeks to enforce the patent against Sony. They are demanding triple damages, attorneys’ fees, and an injunction against future infringement.
The suit was filed in the US District Court’s Eastern District of Texas Tyler Division:
On information and belief, Defendant Sony Corporation of America has infringed and continues to infringe on the ‘000 Patent by making, using, importing, offering for sale and/or selling products among other things, covered by one or more claims of the ‘000 Patent, including, but not limited to, Sony Playstation III [sic].
The Cell technology was jointly developed by Sony, Toshiba & IBM. The PS3 is the first major implementation of the microprocessor design.
Parallel Processing alleges that Sony caused “irreparable harm and monetary damage” to the company.
Ars Technica could not locate Parallel Processing Corporation, either in California where the complaint says the firm is located, or in Delaware where it is supposedly located. The firm may exist solely to enforce the patent and extort settlements from firms with similar technology, a widespread practice called “patent trolling.”
