I see your point, but doubt that the company could

I see your point, but doubt that the company could use that as their defense, i.e., "Sure, we were defrauding a stupid guillible public, and a few posters on a blog said we were crooked, ergo, the whole market must have known we were crooks." lol

There are always pro and con arguments on any issue; the burden remains with the company. It was they put out the false and misleading statements that stirred interest among the buying public.