RedOctane Hot Over Copycat Guitar Controllers

RedOctane, the developers of the very popular game, Guitar Hero, is fired up over what it sees as blatant copyright infringement of its guitar controller. The suit, filed against The Ant Commandos, a California based company, alleges that the firm is guilty of trademark infringement, copyright infringement, false advertising, unjust enrichment, and deceptive trade practices among other charges. The controversy surrounds The Ant Commandos producing a series of guitar game controllers, wired and wireless, for the PlayStation 2. The lawsuit says, “Specifically, Defendants have copied the packaging of Plaintiffs’ products and have used Plaintiffs’ trademarks and copyrighted material in its packaging and advertising of its own products in an effort to cause confusion among consumers." RedOctane is asking the court to rule in favor of them and to order The Ant Commandos to recall and desist from making any more guitar controllers. The plaintiffs also allege that the units produced by the knockoff company do not interface properly with Guitar Hero and are defective in nature. RedOctane is suing for all profits related to the sales of the copy-cat device, the destruction of all materials related to the production of the guitar controllers, attorney fees and damages. Ironically enough, RedOctane was involved in a lawsuit brought against them by Konami on similar charges last year. In this lawsuit, RedOctane was accused of patent infringement when it released its own version of the Konami hit franchise, Dance Dance Revolution, called Groove. RedOctane is also engaged in another lawsuit in which KnuckleBonz, a company that manufactures guitar sculpture collectibles, claims that RedOctane infringed upon their trademarked name for their products, the Guitar Hero brand.