http://www.forbes.com/technology/newswire/2002/12/16/rtr825128.html


AOL awarded almost $7 mln in spam case
Reuters, 12.16.02, 6:33 PM ET

DULLES, Va. (Reuters) - A U.S. court has granted Internet giant America
Online almost $7 million in damages from a company that the Internet giant
said sent its users nearly 1 billion unwanted e-mails touting adult web
sites, AOL said Monday.

The ruling is America Online's second win over CN Productions and its
largest reward to date in an anti-spam case, an AOL spokesman said. The
unsolicited mass messages known as spam are one of the biggest annoyances
for e-mail users.

American Online, the Internet division of AOL Time Warner Inc. and the
world's largest Internet service, said the U.S. District Court of the
Eastern District in Virginia awarded it statutory damages and broadened the
scope of a prior injunction against CN and its owner Jay Nelson.

The decision was reached in late October, but unsealed only recently and
announced by the company only Monday.

The complaint, originally filed in 1998, charged CN with sending AOL
subscribers nearly a billion e-mails advertising adult Web sites.

Dulles, Va.-based America Online won an injunction against CN in 1999 and
that year asked the court to expand its investigations to third parties
working with CN -- and found that it extended outside U.S. borders.

AOL said the ruling was the first in which statutory damages were awarded
under an amended Virginia anti-spam statute.

"This is an important legal victory in the fight against spam and it
sends a clear, distinct message to spammers: AOL is prepared to use all of
the legal and technological tools available to shut down spammers who
inundate the mailboxes of AOL members with unwanted and often offensive
junk e-mail," said Randall Boe, AOL's general counsel, in a statement.

The $7 million award will be use for general purposes, the AOL spokesman said.

Nelson's counsel was not immediately available for comment.

In the latest version of its Internet software, America Online implemented
a new tool that lets users report incidents of spam with the click of a
button. The online giant has won more than 20 cases against spam companies.

Copyright 2002, Reuters News Service