Gibson: Activision's "Guitar Hero" violates patent

Show attendee Brian Weinberg plays Guitar Hero III on a Dell laptop during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada January 8, 2008. Gibson Guitar Inc has told Activision Inc its wildly popular ''Guitar Hero'' video games infringe one of Gibson's patents, a claim that Activision has asked a U.S. court to find invalid, according to court documents.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Gibson Guitar Inc has told Activision Inc (ATVI.O) its wildly popular "Guitar Hero" video games infringe one of Gibson's patents, a claim that Activision has asked a U.S. court to find invalid, according to court documents.

In a letter sent to Activision in January, Gibson said the games, in which players press buttons on a guitar-shaped controller in time with notes on a TV screen, violated a 1999 patent for technology for simulating a musical performance.

On Tuesday, Activision asked the U.S. District Court for Central California to declare Gibson's patent invalid and bar it from seeking any damages.

(Reporting by Scott Hillis in San Francisco and Gina Keating in Los Angeles; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)