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Konami and Harmonix settle legal dispute

By Dan Pearson

Mon 20 Sep 2010 8:17am GMT / 4:17am EDT / 1:17am PDT
Publishing

Copyright infringement cases dropped, terms of settlement not released

Harmonix Music Systems

harmonixmusic.com/

Konami

konami.co.uk

Konami and Harmonix' parent-company Viacom have reached a settlement in their long-running legal dispute over copyright infringement in Rock Band, Rock Revolution and Guitar Freak.

The case surfaced in 2008 as Konami attempted to sue Harmonix, MTV Networks and Viacom over the distribution of instrument peripherals with Rock Band, which Konami felt infringed copyrights registered in respect to its own Guitar Freak title.

Harmonix later filed a counter-claim against Konami, based on alleged copyright infringement of Rock Band in Konami's Rock Revolution. Both cases have now been dropped, with both parties agreeing to dismiss all claims and counter-claims.

No terms of the settlement have been made public.

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2 Comments

Carl Muller Programmer, HotGen Ltd

11 0 0.0
Really? The original article said it was a patent infringement case, not a copyright infringement case, and that the suit was filed in Marshall, Texas, well-known as the worldwide home of the patent law-suit, mostly decided by Judge T. John Ward.

Edited 2 times. Last edit by Carl Muller on 20th September 2010 2:32pm

Posted:5 years ago

#1

Nikolaius Pendriis Head Monkey, NicKayo.com

1 0 0.0
"No terms of the settlement have been made public."
This speaks volumes!

Konami invented these toy-based rhythm-games (easily verifiable with a little due diligence), Harmonix et al copied the format shamelessly and milked the cash cow very successfully. Now they can pay Konami to keep quiet, probably a LOT although I doubt it's as much as Konami deserve. It all seems that simple from here. Any thoughts?

Posted:5 years ago

#2

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