US Court hits anti-Spam organization Spamhaus with $11.7 million fine

[Kristijntje]

A US court has ordered anti-spam organisation Spamhaus to pay $11.7m in damages for "illegally" listing email marketing firm e360insight as an affiliate of a known spammer, an entry that meant users of Spamhaus's mail filtering advisory system would not have received email from e360insight. The Illinois court also imposed an injunction on Spamhaus against interfering with e360insight's email marketing activities without sufficient evidence in future.

UK-based Spamhaus said the default ruling against it in the US court is unenforceable. It continues to maintain that its "blacklisting" of e360insight is correct...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/15/...suit_flap/

[regic]

Update:

The anti-spam group Spamhaus Project warned more junk e-mail could be on the way as it prepares to lose its domain name thanks to a company it has accused of sending spam.

Executives at the U.K.-based Spamhaus Project said Monday they expect a federal judge in Chicago will soon sign an order that would suspend the domain spamhaus.org because the group has refused to recognize the U.S. court and comply with a $11.7 million judgment.

Spamhaus warned the order could unleash up to 50 billion junk e-mails a day on computer users worldwide, though legal and technology experts were skeptical the effect would lead to millions of clogged inboxes.

According to Spamhaus, more than 650 million Internet users - including those at the White House, the U.S. Army and the European Parliament - benefit from Spamhaus' "blacklist" of spammers that helps identify which messages to block, send to a "junk" folder or accept. Losing the domain name would make it more difficult for service providers and others to obtain the lists. ...

full article: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20061009...awsuit.htm

[mandy]

Announcement from ICANN

Spamhaus Litigation Update

10 October 2006

9 October 2006 — ICANN has been advised that a Proposed Order referencing ICANN has been submitted to the court in the matter entitled e360Insight, LLC et al. v. The Spamhaus Project, Case No. 06 CV 3958. This lawsuit is currently pending in the United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois.

Please note that ICANN is not a party to this action and no order has been issued in this matter requiring any action by ICANN. Additionally, ICANN cannot comply with any order requiring it to suspend Spamhaus.org or any specific domain name because ICANN does not have either the ability or the authority to do so.

Based on ICANN's review of the record in the matter, it appears that e360Insight ("e360") filed suit against The Spamhaus Project ("Spamhaus") on 21 June 2006. In the complaint, e360 sought equitable relief by way of an injunction (a court order requiring a party to do or refrain from doing a particular act) as, well as monetary damages, alleging that Spamhaus: (1) "erroneously and repeatedly placed Plaintiffs on its Register of Known Spam Operations (the ROSKO list), and then (2) wrongfully coerced Plaintiffs' business partners to refrain from doing business with Plaintiffs . . . ." Complaint at para. 1.

As the Court stated, "[t]hough Spamhaus initially defended the action, it subsequently withdrew its answer and its attorneys withdrew their appearance. [Spamhaus] has taken no further action to challenge Plaintiff's [e360's] allegations." Court Order, 13 Sept. 2006.

According to the Court's file, Spamhaus failed to respond, the Court entered a default judgment against Spamhaus in the amount of $11,715,000.00 plus $1,971.05 in litigation costs. On that same day, the court entered an order for equitable relief (in the form of a "permanent injunction") against Spamhaus requiring, among other things, that Spamhaus remove e360 from the ROSKO list and post a message on its website at www.spamhaus.org indicating that Plaintiffs were erroneously listed on the website as spammers. Court Order, 13 Sept. 2006.

ICANN has no direct knowledge as to the merits of the claim by e360 against Spamhaus, the reasons why Spamhaus withdrew its answer, or why Spamhaus took no further action to defend the matter.

On 29 September 2006, e360 filed a motion alleging that Spamhaus failed to comply with the Court's previous order and asked the court to suspend www.spamhaus.org, until Spamhaus complies with the Court's previous order.

There was a hearing on 5 October 2006, and following that hearing e360 submitted an order for the Court's review. Minute Order, 5 Oct. 2006.

E360 electronically submitted a proposed order to the court for its review which, if signed, would call for Tucows (Spamhaus' Registrar) and/or ICANN to suspend or place a client hold on www.spamhaus.org.

Even if ICANN were properly brought before the court in this matter, which ICANN has not been, ICANN cannot comply with any order requiring it to suspend or place a client hold on Spamhaus.org or any specific domain name because ICANN does not have either the ability or the authority to do so. Only the Internet registrar with whom the registrant has a contractual relationship - and in certain instances the Internet registry - can suspend an individual domain name.

ICANN has made this posting in response to community interest expressed on this topic and will continue to monitor this matter.

http://www.icann.org/announcements/annou...0oct06.htm

[mandy]

Update:

Spamhaus.org garnered its first win in court, now that the company has decided to show up, against e360Insight. US District Court Judge Charles Kocaras denied a sweeping motion filed by e360 to order the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and domain registrar Tucows to suspend Spamhaus' domain name...

full article: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnew...omain.html

copy of the Judge's ruling (.pdf format):
http://www.icann.org/legal/spamhaus/deni...9oct06.pdf

[mandy]

The latest:

e360 Insight, the Illinois-based mass mailer suing Spamhaus for calling it a spammer, is being sued in California for spamming.

David Linhardt, individually, and his firm e360 Insight are among the defendants in a lawsuit brought by William Silverstein, an aggrieved spam recipient. Bargaindepot.net, a firm which shares offices with e360 Insight, is also named in the suit...

"e360 insight and David Lindhardt [are] in the business of sending illegal unsolicited commercial email, many of which are relayed networks without authorisation. Both e360 Insight and David Lindhardt have intentionally misrepresented to the Courts the nature of their business and have sued people who have exposed the true nature e360 Insight's business."...

full article: http://www.theregister.com/2007/03/23/e3...t_lawsuit/

[mandy]

the latest update:

At least for now, Spamhaus, the popular British spam-blacklisting organization, won't have to cough up $11.7 million as part of a spat with an Illinois e-mail marketing company.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday vacated a lower court's decision last fall to award the damages and to impose an injunction, which required the organization to cease causing any e-mail sent by e360insight or Linhardt to be "blocked, delayed, altered, or interrupted in any way" and to publish an apology...

The three-judge panel concluded the lower court's action was "overbroad" because it had not conducted an "extensive" or "substantial" enough inquiry into the situation before calculating its damage award and imposing other conditions on Spamhaus. The district judge based the damages solely on a sworn statement from Linhardt about his estimated lost future profits, which contained "no information whatsoever to support a finding that such future profits were certain prior to Spamhaus' act," the appeals court opinion said...

full article: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9769724-7.html