Infinum Threatens HardOCP Legal Action

Infinum Labs announced today that they are prepared to file a legal complaint against computer hardware Website HardOCP for defamation.

Gamespot is reporting that Infinum, the company behind the Phantom gaming console, will begin legal action against HardOCP if they do not remove an article critical of them within 10 days.

Gamespot says that according to an Infinium representative, HardOCP was “one of the original sites to have spread misinformation” about makers of the yet-to-be-released Phantom game console. The September 2003 article on the HardOCP Website was critical of Infinium, their chairman and CEO, and their proposal for a PC-based gaming console.

In the article, HardOCP states they discovered that “the CEO of Infinium Labs, Timothy Roberts, has helmed several businesses that have failed or have gone bankrupt in the last six years. A couple of these high profile bankruptcies cost investors in those companies millions and millions of dollars”

In a conference call to analysts and the press, Infinium president and COO Kevin Bachus said the article was “false and defamatory” and it “painted a portrait of a company intent on swindling the public…and that is unacceptable.”

HardOCP’s Kyle Bennett released a statement today stating that he had “extended HardOCP.com’s pledge to correct any and all possible inconsistencies or errors in our editorial” to Infinium Labs on the date of the article, September 17, 2003. As of today, Bennett says Infinium has yet to respond to him, after repeatedly extending the offer.

“It is my opinion that Infinium Labs’ only interest is stifling HardOCP.com and our opinions.” Bennett’s statement reads, adding ” HardOCP.com still stands by our thoughts and opinions put forth in our editorial and no amount of legal badgering and frivolous lawsuits will change those opinions that we have shared with our readers.”

The HardOCP article was not the only critical piece about Infinium and the Phantom. A January article in the Sarasota Florida Herald Tribune reported on a “stealthy stock dividend to insiders” that was made available as soon as Infinium became a publicly traded company, “and without bothering to tell the stock-trading public through traditional channels.”

Infinium Labs had the Phantom console at CES 2004 in Las Vegas in January where Designtechnica and other news outlets had a chance to view the device. What many had hoped would be a demo of the product turned into just a viewing, as the machine was never actually turned on.

Designtechnica will keep you posted of the latest developments in this case. You can read GameSpot’s article by clicking here.