diff --git a/simplejson/encoder.py b/simplejson/encoder.py
index e6d93fcfef1f46d83d7fc3e873bcb1a7e3dd9910_c2ltcGxlanNvbi9lbmNvZGVyLnB5..3b87352ff22a3f9588e70a773740784e406a197e_c2ltcGxlanNvbi9lbmNvZGVyLnB5 100644
--- a/simplejson/encoder.py
+++ b/simplejson/encoder.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 import re
 
 # this should match any kind of infinity
-INFCHARS = re.compile(r'[infINF]')
 ESCAPE = re.compile(r'[\x00-\x19\\"\b\f\n\r\t]')
 ESCAPE_ASCII = re.compile(r'([\\"/]|[^\ -~])')
 ESCAPE_DCT = {