Gibson Guitar Corp. went further with its patent infringement claims regarding Guitar Hero and filed a lawsuit against major retailers selling the game, including Wal-Mart, Amazon, Kmart, GameStop and others. This followed the January 7 lawsuit against Activision, the publisher of the popular game, when Gibson claimed Guitar Hero infringed its patent.

The guitar maker asked the retailers to stop selling the game and even more than that, to remove the game from their store. As it has been reported in the media, Gibson is also seeking damage, but an exact figure hasn’t been specified so far.

The game publisher responded through a public statement, saying: “Our Guitar Hero retailing partners have done nothing wrong. We will confront this and any other efforts by Gibson to wrongfully interfere with Activision’s relationship with its customers and its consumers.”

Activision responded at the time that the game does not violate any patent of Gibson’s: “We disagree with the applicability of their patent and would like legal determination on this,” said George Rose, Activision general counsel. Activision also asked one question: why did Gibson decided to wait 3 years before alleging a patent infringement?

On the other hand, Gibson’s attorney F. Leslie Bessenger claimed in a letter to Activision earlier this year that the game publisher is “taking advantage of Gibson’s patented technology without properly compensating Gibson.”

The Guitar Hero franchise has become a cultural phenomenon worldwide, and the collaboration between Gibson and Activision started from the game’s model guitar, that resembles a black Gibson guitar, but with colored buttons instead of strings that simulate playing a real guitar.

The latest title released by Activision, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was the number 1 title in units and dollars for the year 2007, and included rocks songs of Disturbed, Slipknot, The Killers, Aerosmith, A.F.I., Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Muse, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins and more others.