Harmonix sues over Rock Revolution

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Feb 12, 2009 6:09 pm PT

Creators of Rock Band and Guitar Hero turn tables on genre originator Konami with suit over Rock Revolution.

Last year, Konami filed suit against Harmonix and MTV Games parent company Viacom, saying the group's Rock Band violated patents it held for "simulated musical instruments" and "musical rhythm-matching" games. This week, it's Harmonix and Viacom on the offensive, as the pair have filed suit against Konami in Massachusetts District Court over the company's Rock Revolution game.

Image taken from Viacom's patent.

As reported by Bloomberg, the suit alleges that Rock Revolution violates a Viacom and Harmonix patent for a "game controller simulating a musical instrument." The suit does not go into any greater detail about the violation, but asks a court to stop all sales and importation of Rock Revolution and award Viacom damages and attorneys' fees.

Although 2008's Rock Revolution arrived a bit late to the current trend of musical games, Konami was a pioneer in the field of rhythm games requiring pricey peripherals. The publisher has enjoyed success in Japan for over a decade with its Bemani line of music games, like Beatmania, DrumMania, and Guitar Freaks.

90 Comments

  • ArielAguayo

    Posted Sep 6, 2009 5:41 am PT

    You can't copyright a genre of game! and still I think competition is just what they need! It'll keep them working hard to beat competitors. like it'd be super awesome if a competitor didn't cencore every bloody word that an old grandma might find offencive (i.e. "hell," "ass") then they'd know how annoying we find it.

  • alosborne

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 8:13 am PT

    They should stop suing each other and just make a better game than the other to get more money. People need to chill.

  • TehUndeadHorror

    Posted Feb 18, 2009 1:28 am PT

    What's up with all this suing...

  • leonard88

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 6:21 pm PT

    they should resolve this on who gets the highest score on each of the hardest song on the highest difficulty

  • mrt103090

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 12:20 pm PT

    YAY Lawyer wars!

  • perryrhodan

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 6:20 am PT

    Like I said previously, Konami didnt invented the rythm game with simulated music instrument controller.

    Stop having an orgasm about wich one was the first. The first who pionnered this kind of rythm game with a musical instrument was Mattel with the Intellivision.

    Know your video game history. Maybe Konami was the first to patent it, but they are just copycat.

    Mattel was the first with Melody Blaster on the Intellivision and a full sized synth keyboard controller.

    Nintendo came after that with their dance mat on the NES.

    Konami was just another follower in the game industry to came with a game and a simulated game controller.

    Stop telling Konami was the fist, was better, was god, was anything else.

    If I was Konami I 'll have just shut my mouth since I didnt pioneered anything, but I was just the first to steal an idea from another era and to patented it for my own profit. Thats all Konami have done.

    http://www.intellivisionworld.com/English/Software/VideogameDetail.asp?iwVdg=54&iwBrn=8

  • ehuman

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 12:55 am PT

    Strike them down! Make them pay for their sins!

  • otanikun

    Posted Feb 15, 2009 7:27 am PT

    Why, what's the point, and exactly what in the hell will they get out of this?
    The original idea was from Konami to begin with, or is it that Harmonix/Viacom or anybody else for that matter, forgotten one simple thing?
    That Konami released a little something called Guitar Freaks? It was their idea to begin with, so to sue over something that isn't technically theirs to begin with is questionable and moronic, unless I'm missing something.

    But I'm expecting this to be overturned and the suit against Haromonix/Viacom in return.
    They aren't gonna get any money out of this and they know it, it's a waste of time, money and man hours against something that isn't true.

  • DiabloNeonX

    Posted Feb 15, 2009 12:40 am PT

    Now, this every well could be just legal maneuvering to get Konami to drop their suit. People obviously didn't pay attention to my last post.

    We don't know the full story behind the basis of this suit. There could have very well been something special about the drums that Harmonix patented and Konami knowingly or unknowingly violated.

    I said it once, and I'll say it again. Reserve your judgment until more facts are revealed. If then, Harmonix looks like douchebags, then feel free to blast away.

  • Hitch_Blade_VII

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 9:50 pm PT

    kick them while their down harmonix! show no mercy!.... a holes....

  • vivendidoom

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 7:51 pm PT

    Rock band, and guitar hero are sorry peices of games that are a bad idea in the first place. they dont teach anyone how to play, and its not meant to. its meant to be played as a game in a different genre. Unlike the fad, I believe this muse for the audience will go out within the next 5 years. They will run out of songs to use for people to play (as in songs people would like to play) untimatly leaving the "game music" with peripherals out of game. Just watch, it will come.

  • AuronTsubaki85

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 4:27 pm PT

    Typical Sumner Redstone, pissing & moaning over something he stole in the first place & doing whatever he can to remain a greedy bastard.. Once a thief, always a thief! Konami shouldn't have to take any of Redstone or Viacom's nonsense.

  • rbenns2

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 9:15 am PT

    The fact you can patent such a broad concept as "game controller simulating a musical instrument" shows there's something wrong with how the patent industry operates. Also, why is Activision still able to make Guitar Hero peripherals? Are they not also a rival? Is it a coincidence that as soon as Guitar Hero had a serious rival that the number of tracks per game increased, as did the number of them being original master tracks. Finally, Konami didn't make any guitar peripherals themselves. Besides, RR was such a joke when compared to the competition that there are stacks of them unsold in bargain bins all over. ,

  • Erebus

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 12:45 am PT

    This lawsuit is a legal filibuster designed to keep Konami pinned under Activision-Blizzard's stacks of cash.

    Both companies will now likely settle.

  • perryrhodan

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 9:19 pm PT

    In fact Konami didnt pionered rythm musical game with an instrument....Mattel with the Intellivision pionnered the genre. WAYYYYY before the others. If you owned the computer expension module for the Intellivision II, you can play Melody Blaster. The game came with a full sized synthetizer keyboard (piano style keyboard) and you played a game "guitar hero" style.

    http://www.intellivisionworld.com/English/Software/VideogameDetail.asp?iwVdg=54&iwBrn=8

    I'm sick of seeing company arguing that the invented a gameplay style or some revolutionnary game when the y have to know their videogame history and be honest to tell the used this game (Melody Blaster) for their inspiration in creating Guitar Freak and all the others that came after.

  • Jrock7

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 6:49 pm PT

    Konami sues Harmonix and now it's vice versa. Konami should have just shut their mouths.

  • enix165

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 3:23 pm PT

    Funny thing is, Konami made Guitar Freaks before Harmonix made GH1...XD

  • saturo123

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 2:57 pm PT

    I'm surprised Harmonix is even wasting their time with this

  • okassar

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 2:44 pm PT

    LOL!!!!And the revenue for Rock Revolution officially hits Negative 10 Million Dollars,haha jk but they are losing money over this fa sho'.

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