NEWS - Sunday, September 19, 2010
Konami, Harmonix Reach Agreement in Lawsuit
It looks like the old adage that time heals all wounds has proven true between Konami and Harmonix, as Bloomberg reports the two companies have agreed to dismiss "all claims and counterclaims" in a lawsuit dating back two years that revolved around alleged patent infringement with Rock Band.
Of course, a financial settlement may have had more to do with this new-found concord as the passage of time, but we’ll never know for sure -- the terms of the agreement between Konami and Harmonix weren’t disclosed. The companies announced the agreement in a federal court filing in Tyler, Texas on September 15.
The legal battle began when Konami sued Harmonix back in July of 2008, alleging Harmonix violated patents filed by Konami in 2002 and 2003 with the release of Rock Band. As many gamers may know, before Harmonix created the immensely popular Rock Band franchise (and even before they created the Guitar Hero franchise), Konami had released a number of music rhythm games like Guitar Freaks and DrumMania.
Following Konami’s lawsuit, things got even more ironic when Harmonix sued Konami in 2009, alleging patent violations of their own when Konami released a proprietary drum controller with Rock Revolution. But, again, all claims and counterclaims have been dropped, so that’s all in the past now.
Source: http://www.1up.com
