We all love Rock Band, right? I know I do, and I’m obviously not alone, because both Activision and Konami are jumping on the full-band music game bandwagon. Activision’s Rock Band clone, Guitar Hero: World Tour, is set to come out later this year, and Konami’s got their upcoming Rock Revolution. Despite the number of games trying to take up my living room space with instrument peripherals, I’m pretty sure I’m sticking with Rock Band.

However, Konami has other ideas, according to Bloomberg.com. Apparently, they are now alleging that Harmonix and MTV Games, the makers of Rock Band, are violating patents filed by the company in 2002 and 2003. Konami is attempting to stop Rock Band from selling with the use of (allegedly) Konami’s “inventions”, although what instrument this refers to specifically is not known at this time. Konami is also, not surprisingly, looking for some monetary compensation from the Rock Band makers.

You know, I’m not a law person or anything, but does it seem weird to anyone else that this lawsuit is coming now and not, say, any other time in the eight months since Rock Band launched? Have they only just heard of Rock Band now, or does this maybe have something to do with Rock Revolution launching later this year? It would probably be nice to get rid of some of the competition in the quickly crowding music game genre, as well as getting a piece of those Rock Band profits. Of course, this is all speculation on my part.

There has been no response as of yet from Viacom, the parent company of Harmonix and MTV. I’m sure that this is really what the Rock Band makers wanted to deal with days before the start of E3, though. We’ll bring you more news on this story as it develops. 

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