Konami sues Viacom over Rock Band

[UPDATE] Japanese publisher claims Harmonix-developed multi-instrument hit violated its "musical rhythm-matching game" patents, reports Bloomberg; MTV responds.

Nearly a decade ago, Konami released the first installments in the DrumMania and Guitar Freaks series, which used drum and guitar peripherals. Though neither franchise was a huge hit, the Japanese publisher did sell millions of its dozen-plus Karaoke Revolution games worldwide.

Given Konami's primogeniture in the instrument and karaoke genres, the publisher was likely none too happy when developer Harmonix combined drums, guitars, and singing into one game--Rock Band. Since its release last November, the MTV Games-published, Electronic Arts-distributed title has sold more than 3 million $179 bundles and more than 10 million song downloads. MTV's parent, Viacom, went as far as to name-check the game in its annual earnings report in May, crediting it with increased profits.

Now, it appears Konami is expressing its displeasure in legal form. According to a report on the Bloomberg news service, this week the Japanese publisher filed suit in a Marshall, Texas, court against Harmonix, MTV Networks, and Viacom. Its suit claims that Rock Band violates a series of US Patents registered in 2002 and 2003 relating to "simulated musical instruments" and "musical rhythm-matching game."

Bloomberg's report did not outline what Konami wanted in terms of compensation from the suit. However, the legal action's timing comes shortly after the announcement of Rock Band 2 and Rock Band: Japan as well as the release of Rock Band: Special Edition for the Wii. It also comes less than two months after Konami announced its own peripheral-based, guitar-drum-vocal title, Rock Revolution, due out later this year.

[UPDATE] Unsurprisingly, MTV Games and Harmonix will not be taking the suit lying down. "Konami's actions are extremely surprising," an MTV representative told the company's Multiplayer gaming blog. "Unfortunately, successful products such as Rock Band can often become targets for baseless litigation. We have substantial defenses to this claim and intend to vigorously defend it."

316 Comments

  • nintendoboy16

    Posted Jan 25, 2009 9:13 pm PT

    @ASG

    Because according to pdilly3, Activision had an agreement with Konami to ensure Guitar Hero dosen't share Rock Band's fate.

  • ASG_

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 8:18 am PT

    Why don't they sue Activision too? -_-

  • Eric_Drav3n

    Posted Jan 8, 2009 5:48 am PT

    If this is true then Konami really dissapoint me, I always thought they were a great company but this just sucks, go make new games instead of waste time on this

  • alifoxey2

    Posted Jan 7, 2009 8:28 pm PT

    Konami is a great company you guys don't know what you are talking about. What you guys are basically saying is, for example, if you just copy and paste a report from the internet and then change some of the words and then claim it as your own. Furthermore blacksparrow15 what do you mean by crap? The game guitar freaks was a great game and even today Konami still makes great games (MGS,PES,DDR, Zone of the Enders, Silent Hill, Castlevania, etc.) Unless you are an ignorant gamer then you these aren't "crap."

  • blacksparrow15

    Posted Dec 4, 2008 7:26 pm PT

    We gamers are the one who should sue Konami for putting this kind of crap in our respected stores, Gamestop, and Wal-Mart and Best Buy and such.

  • gnutux

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 9:53 pm PT

    now if Konami just make even DDR better, then it can sue all it wants to. I wouldn't care.

  • joshboy101

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 7:17 pm PT

    I'm begining to really hate Konami! THEY ARE A SMALL COMPANY THAT LIKES TO SUE PEOPLE BECAUSE ITS THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN GET MONEY!
    They have already sued activation's in the groove which was a lot better than ddr and now there sueing ROCKBAND!
    WHAT THE HECK!

  • joshboy101

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 7:17 pm PT

    I'm begining to really hate Konami! THEY ARE A SMALL COMPANY THAT LIKES TO SUE PEOPLE BECAUSE ITS THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN GET MONEY!
    They have already sued activation's in the groove which was a lot better than ddr and now there sueing ROCKBAND!
    WHAT THE HECK!

  • MastirOfPuppets

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 6:09 pm PT

    Sleep in Alucard.

  • Valo_Skater

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 5:03 pm PT

    notice how people start suing once the franchise go's big.

  • pokerguy94

    Posted Sep 27, 2008 3:48 pm PT

    That's a great philosophy, if someone else can make a better game than you can sue them! God I hate this planet.

  • bestbuy319

    Posted Sep 26, 2008 7:56 am PT

    what else are the Japanese going to do god knows they cant make good games any more so they will just sue good developers.

  • DarthEthong467

    Posted Aug 26, 2008 1:56 pm PT

    Face it Konami, you suck! If you couldn't get it right than stop whining! Sore-losers...

  • Fooglewasp

    Posted Aug 23, 2008 5:44 pm PT

    Rock Band, Viacom, EA, Harmonix>Konami

  • ohjtbehaaave

    Posted Aug 22, 2008 6:22 pm PT

    You snooze you lose Konami. Now STFU!

  • Dreamerdude26

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 12:29 am PT

    I think that Konami is just mad because most of their games didn't sell very well but someone else created something that has similar but not identical instruments that has sold extremely well. Why didn't they bring this suit into play while the game was being developed? Obviously they just wont some more green.

  • BIFFAR posted Jul 20, 2008 6:00 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    BIFFAR

    Posted Jul 20, 2008 6:00 pm PT (hide)

    Im with konami on this one. They have every right to defend what they created with all these imitation guitar/band games.

  • BRINCA

    Posted Jul 17, 2008 1:39 am PT

    For all the people who keep saying why now or anything else like that do you think most gaming companies care about us no they just want our money or any money at all so stop blaming konami for anything they just want money like all gaming companies.

  • pdilly3

    Posted Jul 15, 2008 12:42 am PT

    For those unaware:

    From Dictionary.com - PATENT: the exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years. Wikipedia - "A patent provides the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent, which is usually 20 years from the filing date."

    Konami
    A. Has (and had) no obligation to file this quickly. They did so when they were ready.
    B. Have every right to protect such inventions that they were granted rights to by the US government.

    Activision was smart enough to get an agreement in place with Konami; as such there should be some validity to their patent ownership, else Activision would have ignored it as well.

    let the flames begin...

  • BrushedMetal

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 10:44 pm PT

    I dont think GuitarFreaks was the greatest name in the world for a rhythum game. Guitar Hero and Rock Band just has a better presentation and songs. And the develepers for GH and RB also have inspiration and perserverance to make these great games.

    I dont know if this makes sense to everybody but its just my opinions

  • Harvestbuddy

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 8:54 pm PT

    guitar freaks and drummania are huge hits at the arcade!!

  • ddr_hero

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 6:43 pm PT

    Konami has been sueing copycat games for quite some time now, but only if they're better. ITG and PIU anyone? I sort of hope this hurts konami to the point where they stop trying to pick on the little guy now that they're taking on someone their own size.

  • son012189

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 6:38 pm PT

    Thank god, someone is sueing Viacom.

  • X_CAPCOM_X

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 5:25 pm PT

    Why are people defending Viacom?

    They don't care about you guys. They actually want to sue you if you've watched 1 second of their content on Youtube. http://mashable.com/2007/03/13/viacom-youtube/

  • TXMostWanted

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 4:42 pm PT

    I was wondering when this would happen, having seen these sorts of games in Tokyo arcades for the longest time...I honestly didn't think America would want to play these games, but that's Japan for ya

  • mattk442001

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 3:49 pm PT

    I know how some people are saying "Good for Konami! They should win against Viacom!". I would've agreed with that if the lawsuit was filed a year ago. They waited until Rock Band was a success before taking action. It looks like Konami is going to try to knock Rock Band 2 out of the way so their new game will become successful. Although I do agree with the purpose of the lawsuit, I don't agree with the lawsuit. I think Konami is just going after greatly-needed money.

  • score89

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 1:58 pm PT

    Imagine that Nintendo sues everyone because today controllers' design came from their ideas like the L R buttons on SNES controller or the small joystick of the N64 . what i am trying to say is that the idea was almost forgotten and practically without use in america. And if you are going to sue anyone because he is using you patent idea you do it immediately ,waiting for a profit for you to "steal-take-sue" it is just greed

  • Konfusion

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 10:05 am PT

    Maybe it's just me, but hitting a guitar with my fingers and jumping like a monkey over a dance pad are two very different things. Maybe Konami's mad cuz the other guy's idea is more fun... but just too bad.

  • nintendoboy16

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 9:47 am PT

    @AlexandLandon

    I said to forget that thread ever happened a while back. Why didn't you listen? Now you made me feel as bad as Bret when he left Jemaine behind with the two man gang while he was running back home for safety in the third episode of Flight of the Conchords. And everyone hated him for that except two of his other friends, which is Murray and Dave.

    Back on topic, I wasn't taking anyone's side between the two companies. All I said was there's no fluppin point in these fluppin lawsuits, since "gaming clones" are very common. That's why I think these lawsuits are pointless as heck.

  • Jaster_DCX

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 9:18 am PT

    i'm for konami on this one. its not fair.

  • CloudlessSky

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 8:36 am PT

    I was wondering if Konami was ever going to step up. I'm glad they did.

  • ThreeVo

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 7:39 am PT

    AlexandLandon -

    i agree completely.

    Dogswithguns said
    "Too bad that GuitarFreaks didnt get a hit. GH and Rockband did....."

    wether Guitar Freaks was succesfull outside of japan or not doesnt justify anything.. if thats what u were aiming at. If not, then my apologies

  • xFullSurfacex

    Posted Jul 14, 2008 5:59 am PT

    GO Konami!!!!

  • AlexandLandon

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 9:30 pm PT

    @Nintendoboy16

    I love how you fail to realize the numerous amounts of rude comments aimed at Konami for wanting to protect their inventions from being stolen for use by another company. I also love how you're the same person that accused Battle of the Bands, a game with totally different gameplay that uses the wii-mote for pete's sake, of being a rip off of Guitar Hero, yet you'll defend a game that copied Guitar Freaks and DrumMania's gameplay almost exactly. Talk about irony.

  • nintendoboy16

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 7:06 pm PT

    @AlexandLandon

    "I hope Rock Band dies. You people deserve it."

    Be careful what you say. That was actually very rude on how you said that. Sometimes, depending on how it's taken, you can hurt someone's feelings. The reason why I think this lawsuit is pointless as the Nintendo "infringing" on other gaming ideas cases they had a while back with Anascape. Is because there are other things like a controller. This even includes music Guitar Playing games like Guitar Hero, Guitar Freaks, or even Rock Band. Something tells me a lot of people knew this for a while.

  • Dogswithguns

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 3:50 pm PT

    Too bad that GuitarFreaks didnt get a hit. GH and Rockband did.....

  • Warlock89

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 3:42 pm PT

    Wasn't Viacom the one that sued YouTube for copyright infrindgement? Now this is just hilarious. Harmonix did still or were HUGELY inspired by Konami's games. I doubt many people have seen them. They are just like Guitar Hero and Rockband.

  • The_Great_Woggy

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 3:32 pm PT

    I hope konami wins something from this lawsuit it might stop the big money hungry companies stealing others ideas, if not it shows who's buying the judge with the money. Plus I don't know who some of these people commenting are trying to be but yeah being racist and retarded isn't cool.

  • Goku40210

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 2:05 pm PT

    Viacom will not be scratched by this lawsuit in fact they could make the money in a day probably this is a suit of face and sadly Konami is only equipped with a nose

  • intotheshadowz

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 1:22 pm PT

    Viacom getting sued over infringement? Oh how the mighty have fallen.

  • Elvis4576 posted Jul 13, 2008 12:19 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    Elvis4576

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 12:19 pm PT (hide)

    Silly japanesse this is rock not hardcore techno

  • ThreeVo

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 11:39 am PT

    1upMushroomX6 said
    "konami is just a arogant japanesse company... they will lose the lawsuit"

    This is ubsurd.... everyone needs top educate themselves with the industry and Konamis' past develpomenst.... im left to aonly assume the people here bashing konami are the ones that live in backwater smallvilles'.. with no experience of a highly entertaining arcade scene..

    the fact of the matter is simple.... activision new this.. and properley payed for konamis patents... what they knew is this....
    KONAMI is the pioneer of rythm based games, simple. no one esle has done it as good as them or prior to them with success... Guitar freaks, DDR, beatmania (wich is a trance/techo rythm game) and also many iterations of drum games. get ur facts straight b4 bashing a solid gaming company that founded this genre in a scene that is praised in japan, and not so much in the states.. it was only a mater of time

  • 1upMushroomX6 posted Jul 13, 2008 10:22 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    1upMushroomX6

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 10:22 am PT (hide)

    konami is just a arogant japanesse company... they will lose the lawsuit

  • Falco_648

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 10:04 am PT

    Did Konami think anyone was actually gonna buy this anyway?

  • snoopy248

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 7:23 am PT

    I agree completely with AlexandLandon!

    Well said!

  • AlexandLandon

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 7:00 am PT

    @Whirlbat You have no idea what you're talking about. Konami's Guitar Freaks and DrumMania games are huge in Japan, popular enough to still spawn sequels since both games debuted almost 10 years ago. Here we bash Konami for taking legal action against another company that infringed their patents because we loooove Rock Band. Face it, that's exactly what's going on here. Activision was smart by paying to use Konami's patents. Maybe just maybe Konami was giving Harmonix enough time to eventually do the same? However, since they did not, they had to sue. I wouldn't want someone else making money off of my own inventions without getting something out of it, would you?

  • silentchuck

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 6:34 am PT

    up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, b,a, SUE

  • ScionofEntropy

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 5:16 am PT

    Why are they just now bothering to sue, roughly a year later?

  • Damnation_6

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 2:54 am PT

    Meh they would prob sue Konami if they suddenly came up with a game that the likes of EA had the pattent to.

    I don't like MTV much so GO KONAMI

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