German Spammer Sued By Microsoft
Published: Friday, June 24, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
GERMAN SPAMMER SUED BY MICROSOFT
Don't mess with Hotmail...
Techweb News reported this week that Microsoft's German unit has sued an unnamed
company in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for spamming the U.S.-based company's
Hotmail service.
One of Germany's 16 federal states, North Rhine-Westphalia is in the northwest
part of the country. Notable cities in the state include Essen, Cologne, Dusseldorf
and Bonn.
The as yet unidentified company and its managing director were both listed in
the lawsuit, which contends that several million spam messages were sent to Hotmail
accounts.
Most of the messages were advertisements for Web design and development services,
but some touted online gambling or pornographic sites. A network of companies
in both the U.S. and the Ukraine were used to send the spam, Microsoft alleges.
The company's owner denied sending the spam, and blamed business partners who
he refused to name.
Although Germany does not have a federal anti-spam law in place, Microsoft was
able to sue under a provision of the country's anti-trust legislation.
