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Microsofts Antispam Strategy Reaps US$4 Million Judgment
Judge Manuel Real of the U.S. Central District Court of California ordered Daniel Khoshnood and his companies, Pointcom Inc. and Joshuathan Investments Inc., to pay Microsoft Corp. US$3.95 million for a spam Email campaign involving trademark infringement, false advertising and cyber squatting. According to court documents, the defendants' spam campaign lured users of MSN Portal and the Hotmail Email system with Emails titled "Windows Security Warning!!" into downloading a toolbar falsely claiming it would automatically update Microsoft's security patches. The judgment ordered the defendants to cease using Microsoft's trademarks and name, refrain from spamming, and pay damages and legal fees.
This judgment is part of Microsoft's broader antispam policy also involving the use of technology, regulation and partnerships with other technology providers, according to Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith. Since January 2003, Microsoft has initiated 60 lawsuits against alleged spammers. Six of these lawsuits have been won by default, one has resulted in a summary judgment, four have been settled, and one has been dismissed. Microsoft has also forced two alleged spammers into bankruptcy. Microsoft has been awarded an aggregate of US$54 million in judgments further to these lawsuits.
Microsoft claimed that this judgment represented a victory for its antispam strategy: "Targeted enforcement activity is beginning to have a tangible, negative financial impact on spammers and is changing the economics of spam."
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