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Infinium Labs Countersues HardOCP
loftydog writes "Gamespot is reporting that our favorite console manufacturer has thrown down a gauntlet in Florida. Seems they didn't want to play in Texas with HardOCP. Turns out that SCO doesn't have a corner on the lawyer market after all, and we'll see something from Infinium, even if it is an overpaid suit."
I'd love to see the judge say "OK, Infinium.. Let's see your console that HardOCP has been blasting." It may be another SCOish "We'd love to but it's our proprietary product!"
Trolling is a art,
I just read the motion to dismiss and supporting brief relating to the Texas suit. Infinium is not going to have much of a fun time in this suit. Their counsel are incompetent. I've yet to read anything prepared by [H]'s lawyers, but it's got to be better than the inane dribble that Infinium has sent to the Tx District Court. Misspellings, wrong words, never mind the fact that they're plainly disrespectful in some places, and oh, flat out wrong in some, too.
Motion to dismiss:
here
Their website is gorgeous. Takes forever to load, but the eye-candy is sweet.
I'm not a cool-guy web designer, but they list a "Pentium III" as a site requirement. I can't recall seeing another site that listed a processing requirement. Is that legit?
Also interesting to note that, according to the Phantom.net branch of their site,
The Dalai Llama
constantly amazed at just how far people will go to get press...wait a minute, nobody visits my site, either. If you're reading this sig, expect to be contacted by my legal team.
My sig could be your sig!
Can't be libel if it's true. ;-)
As I understand it they pointed out who the owner of the console firm was [e.g. his past] which was fairly accurate based on the fact that all the people they contacted didn't want to admit the truth... [e.g. some degree of freedom].
It's also true that while getting investment for yet another business they have yet to actually produce a unit. [Recall: the dudes previous business ventures were flops too].
So if anything the original article may have had some inaccuracies but the overall picture is right. e.g. this dude is a V.C. scammer looking for the next big dig.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Depends upon what you're trying to sell. IF that is extremely realistic high end graphics in a sealed-up console that you aren't allowed to mod in any way because of some stupidass DMCA violation, that's one thing. If, on the other hand, you are trying to appeal to the hacker mentality (not the criminal sort, but the kind that likes to take something apart and put it back together in ways the builders never imagined) then Infinium's product is marketable. I would certainly consider buying such a product just for the potential to play and experiment. As someone who did game development back in the mid 80's I would get a real kick out of an "open" console. Unfortunately, I don't see Infinium Labs as being the ones to provide it. There's definitely something wrong with that company. At this point I wouldn't buy from them even if they did have a product (any product) because I don't willingly support lawsuit-happy incompetents.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
In the USA, truth is a defense to libel. There is no tort if your printed stories are factually accurate.
In the UK, truth is no defense, you can still be sued if you print something that damages another person or company's else's reputation.
Stuff like this is why gamers need a Daily Show, but for games. Or like Old Man Murray, but updated.
As we've seen in the past, the executives of those companies just set up shop at a different company and start a new set of lawsuits. However, if there is a corporate death penalty, perhaps it might be harder for those executives to be hired by the BoD of a new company, given the results of their previous actions. That wouldn't be a bad thing.
Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
My advice: don't write to them. Don't tell them they suck. Looking at their documents so far, they don't really care about the case and are doing it half-assed. Don't stir them up, don't make them think there will be media attention, don't do anything. Let the Infinium lawyers continue to behave as if this doesn't matter. They are their own worst enemy, and will lose if we let them.
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
your post is technically correct, but the way the burden of proof works in English defamation law makes the parent broadly right.
The fact that you don't need to *prove* a statement is untrue to launch an English law libel action makes life much easier for the plaintiff. The fact the defendant has to prove true all of has allegations makes life much more difficult, and expensive for him.
This reversal of the burden of proof is why dictators, corrupt businessmen and general slimeballs from all over the world flock to our courts to start libel actions. Our legal system is generally much more sensible that America's, but defamation is a huge exception.
...that isn't run by a bunch of jacka$$#$? Try the X Game Station. It's sufficiently obscure that it makes people think you're elite, and it's sufficiently vaporware that it will be a while before that's proven wrong.
JK. Actually, the developers post on their forums all of the time, and seem like normal nice guys not prone to knee-jerk reactions and faked photographs. It's also not really vaporware, as they have released an SDK and other things... it's just a bit late. (Money... Burning... Hole...) It's also a little underpowered as far as primary gaming machines go, but that's not what you buy an alternative console for anyway.
There are good alternative console developers out there. Even if the Phantom people are evil and the DIScovER people are ruthless jerks, some people are doing good things in the world of consoles.
The ______ Agenda
We've heard an awful lot about the HardOCP/Phantom litigation, but there seems to be another story lurking. I direct your attention to the following section of Infinium Labs' now overly-linked-to 8-K financial form:
NOTE D - CONVERTIBLE PROMISSORY NOTE
At October 31, 2003, Infinium was involved in a legal dispute with a competitor. In January 2004 the Company, in conjunction with the settlement of litigation, issued a convertible promissory note in the amount of $100,000. The promissory note is non-interest bearing and must be paid or converted into common shares if Infinium has an anticipated merger with a corporation that has common stock trading on the over-the-counter or similar exchange within 241 days from the date of the note, or the liquidated damages total $150,000.
Now this makes less sense to me than most lawyerspeak. Could someone walk me through it?
The other interesting thing is that Infinium names at least one developer: Riverdeep, owner of Broderbund (that's how it's spelled on the site, folks. I know there's supposed to be an "o" in there, but they've changed).
It would be interesting to see if Riverdeep actually acknowledges such an agreement...
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