Volume VII

Issue : 16: November 5, 2009

• Apotex Loses Patent Infringement Case
• Facebook Wins $711 Million in Damages Against Spammer
• Mars Seeks Reversal of Trademark Infringement Decision
• Nokia Sues for iPhone Related Patent Infringement
• CRTCs New Net Neutrality Rules are not Without Criticism
• ICANN Approves Non Latin Script Languages for Domain Names
• UK Shop Assistant Almost Prosecuted by PRS for Singing at Work

Home > Volume VII > Issue 16: November 5, 2009 > Facebook Wins $711 Million in Damages Against Spammer

Facebook Wins $711 Million in Damages Against Spammer

A Federal District Court in Northern California has awarded Facebook USD$711 million in damages against Sanford Wallace, an online marketer who improperly obtained other users’ login information in order to send wall posts and phony messages to those users’ friends, making it more likely that these recipients would click on the message leading to outside phishing and commercial sites. Wallace would then receive compensation for driving traffic to these sites.

Facebook also won a USD$873 million judgment last year against a Canadian accused of using a similar technique to sell products.

It is unlikely that Facebook will collect the full legal settlement, as Wallace has declared bankruptcy. In addition, Wallace already has judgments against him for more than USD$200 million.

For additional information, visit:

http://tinyurl.com/yzda9ej