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Infinium Labs Threatens HardOCP Again
XBox4Evr writes "In a follow up from two weeks ago, Infinium Labs is again threatening the tech website HardOCP with legal action. This in itself, is no big deal, but to actually read the letter from Infinium Labs lawyers will make you wonder if an educated person actually penned the documents. This seems to another huge blow to IL's credibility in the console market in general, now that ex-Xbox manager Kevin Bachus is on board with Infinium Labs."
Are lawyers nerds? I'm seeing more and more "Here's a link to some legal documents, enjoy!" on the front page of slashdot. I can't read these things without falling asleep on the first paragraph. Is there some sort of hobbyist lawyer nerd demographic that i am completely unaware of reading this site? Legalese thrill seekers? Not only that, but this is the gamers section of slashdot... Dude, i'm so into GTA, QUAKE and LEGAL DOCUMENTS, woah! Anyone?
SCO just keeps getting crazier and cr...wait, this isn't SCO?!?
Mix the failings of Usenet with the shortcomings of the World Wide Web and the result is slashdot.
Now that Google has removed SCO as the #1 hit for the phrase, might I suggest Infinium Labs for the title of litigious bastards?
They want to invent the "Phantom Lawsuit" as well. I for one think SCO has already invented this, and will soon claim copyright to it. So Infinium Labs will lose their $25 million in capital paying off licesing fees. Darn, I was really looking forward to that amazing Phantom too........
Why would they use a pen when they can use crayons?
using namespace slashdot;
troll::post();
I love this bit:
These lawyers must get paid by the word. For their next threatening letter I'd recommend something that will get them a few more bucks. How about:
I really should have gone to Lahw Skool, the past 20ish years of geeking seem wasted by comparison..
Trolling is a art,
Just speaking from experience with corporate lawyers, what often happens is that a corporate leader (i.e. CEO, etc.) is upset by some event (i.e. the article), and they demand that Legal take some action. The lawyer, not wanting to be disbarred for malpractice, points out that they have no legal claim, but to avoid beign fired they then fire off a letter that simply states what the higher-ups say, with a small note about a law suit. I'd bet solid money no law suit ever solidifies.
The writers at Hard are pretty fucking funny though: they've done an excellent job of reforming their statements to accord with the demands, even while making them more acidic.
"Stumble before you crawl"
These guys are trying pretty hard and haven't got one yet.
Nerd: Derogatory term typically directed at anybody with a lower Slashdot ID than you.
...trying to compete with SCO for most idiotic use of litigation is a poor hobby to have for 2 reasons:
1. SCOs litigation is pretty much about as inane and frivolous as it gets
2. see #1
I would LOVE to see what Gabe and Tyco would do. Probably ream them a new A$$.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
I think HardOCP made it pretty clear last time that they stand by their reporting. If Infinium wants to keep making threats they're going to keep getting ignored.
I know there's nothing but wannabe pretend-experts on slashdot, but I'm going to ask this anyway, on the offchance maybe there happen to be some wannabe pretend-experts who mostly post on Groklaw who wandered in by accident. I've been wondering for awhile:
From a legal standpoint, exactly how far and how often can you move toward *threatening* a lawsuit before it becomes illegal to not actually declare one?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
People talking about Penny Arcade are leaving out the funniest bit. The best part of the Penny Arcade comic is the response from Roberts (or whatever the Infinium guys' name is). He claimed in a forum post that the penny-arcade comic was a response that they put all console designers through as a part of an initiation process and that they were hungry for bandwidth. Kind of funny when talking about a site that gets millions of hits a month. Read the post and the site's response at their site.
1. ???
2. ???
3. Profit
Under most interpretations of libel law, there are three things that Infinium would need to prove.
The first is that not only did HardOCP publish incorrect information, but they did so willingly. In other words, they had to know at the time the article was factually incorrect. If Infinium provided correct information at the time, then this might not really be in dispute. That said, many of the items in the letter appear to be judgements and opinions.
Second, Infinium would have to prove that HardOCP published incorrect information with malice. This is not easy by a long shot, since you are trying to prove motivation.
Finally, Infinium has to prove that they were damaged by the article in clear monetary terms. This is always one of the hardest things to measure in a libel action.
All that being said, I think it is clear that HardOCP has some valid points in the article but at the same time, has been given corrected information (such as location of offices, etc). If HardOCP truly takes journalism seriously, then a few corrections should be forthcoming. The fact that an expense paid invitation to view the facility was turned down suggests a strong anti-Infinium bias.
This is one of those things where both parties stop the shenanigans and own up to the truth. Each is falling far short of being forthright about the matter.
- SCO plainly states they are going to sue a linux user today. When today comes, they do not do anything, but simply produce more elaborate threats and a new deadline of "tomorrow".
- Infinium Labs plainly states they are going to sue HardOCP soon. When today comes, they do not do anything, but simply produce more elaborate threats and a new deadline of "soon".
- NASA implies they are going to reveal an important Mars discovery today. NASA does in fact then reveal the discovery that Mars did in fact have significant and widespread liquid oceans in the distant past and that sediment analysis confirms this.
In short: Between SCO, Infinium, and Life on Mars, Life on Mars is at least for today far and away winning the credibility race.-- Super Ugly Ultraman
However after googling a bit I did find some info, I think.
James Aker seems to be a real lawyer at least.
He seems to do Litigation, Employment law, construction, and personal injury. Not really specilized it seems.
This is FUNNY! the letter sent to HardOCP is really, really amusing... it's written as if by a primary school child.
It's basically... "You wrote that we have not shown any real machines yet... you imply that we don't really have any"
"You wrote that you haven't seen an office yet... you imply we don't have an office"
It's just paragraph after paragraph of them saying things like that... it reads so very, very badly.
Plus it falls into periods of text which CANNOT have been written by anyone with ANY sort of legal training:
"The article inaccurately claims that HardOCP 'Compiled and researched all of the publicay available information we could find.' Clearly this is not the case or you are not very good at finding publicly available information."
Dear god that's terrible... it's so much like "you, you, you're a poopy pants... and, and, my dad says that what you said is wrong... you poopy pants"
I can see why they have not taken this seriously.
In case anyone is interested
I'll let you know if they write back. *smirk*
You don't have to be the person you've become.
13. "...Your article has obviously damaged Roberts and Infinum in the millions of dollars."
I know I hate it when someone damages me in my millions of dollars.