Gibson’s “music simulation” patent is a load of crap

The Guitar Hero story that was making the rounds last week was certainly funny, but it’s also a good jumping-off point to talk about that perpetually exciting topic, intellectual property law.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the story, the gist of it is that Gibson is suing Activision (who publishes Guitar Hero) for infringing on a patent that supposedly protects “simulating a musical performance.“

The fact that a patent like this was ever even granted is ridiculous. What’s next, a patent for “a method of operating muscles in such a way that air is taken into the lungs and oxygenates the blood“?

I don’t think the concept of patents is a very good one to begin with, but if we are going to have an intellectual property system, we need to make some rules, people.

How about something like this: You can patent a specific song, but not the concept of making songs. You can patent a specific spark plug, not the idea of an engine. You can patent a specific musical performance simulation device, but not the idea of simulating a musical performance.

But like I said, I’m not a big fan of patents anyhow. It would be best for everyone if we just didn’t have patents. The typical defense of patent law is that it protects small companies from large companies that could otherwise just rip off ideas and then undercut the little guy.

Unfortunately, as it turns out, the legal teams of the large companies find loopholes enough when they want to. They can tie up the little guy in court for years until he doesn’t have any more money to continue a lawsuit. The ones really cleaning up on patent laws are large companies that had the money to file and buy countless numbers of specious patents, like one for “simulating a musical performance.“

The big guys then proceed to throw their weight around, driving up costs, reducing choice and generally just pissing off the typical consumer. I don’t see why we even bother.

EDIT: Can’t get the picture to properly link to XKCD, and I’d hate to not attribute it, so here’s the link.