Konami, a Japanese publisher that released more than ten years ago game series such as DrumMania and Guitar Freaks with the two instruments peripherals, took legal action against Viacom Inc.’s Harmonix Studio, which produced Rock Band.

Apparently, Konami patented its inventions six years ago, being considered the rightful developer of the devices that "relate to simulated musical instruments, a music-game system and a musical-rhythm matching game." The company considers that Rock Band used its features and now demands financial compensations and also a court order for banning Viacom from using its inventions in all future projects.

Konami recently announced the upcoming release of its Rock Revolution game, which will directly compete with Rock Band and Activision’s Guitar Hero and will probably use the media buzz surrounding the trial in order to better promote its upcoming product.

The problem might be significantly bigger than meets the eye for Harmonix, as the company is in preparations for its Xbox 360 September release of Rock Band 2, which will also be later on available for the PlayStation 3 console. So far the company’s efforts have been focused of fixing the bugs found in the game’s first version and bringing new and exciting features for the second, but the recent turn of events might lead to a significant turn in the development process.

Such matters are never resolved in a flash, so the process is very likely to spread over many months as there are several issues that will demand the authorities’ careful analysis.