Microsoft stops McDonald serving spam
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Ewan Nettleton is a senior associate solicitor in the Intellectual Property Department at Bristows. He specialises in Intellectual Property Law with an emphasis on litigation. He has an MA in Chemistry and a DPhil in Protein Chemistry, and is particularly interested in matters relating to the IT and pharmaceutical industries.
William Jensen is a trainee solicitor at Bristows currently sitting in the Intellectual Property Litigation Department. He has a BSc degree in Physics and French.
Abstract Spam is a global problem. Having come about as an unwanted side effect of the ease of use of the internet and e-mailing, it is more than a mere inconvenience to e-mail recipients and their IT Departments. Recent estimates suggest that between 50 and 60 per cent of all e-mails sent today are spam.1 Such a high volume of mostly useless e-mail traffic slows down IT networks, crashes computers, takes up countless man-hours resolving problems, and is a constant source of irritation for users. One estimate puts the cost to UK businesses alone at £1.3bn per year2 and the cost worldwide at 39 billion Euros.3 Importantly, spam also creates problems in the public’s perception for legitimate electronic marketers and often results in their e-mail messages being blocked, deleted, or lost in a sea of unwanted correspondence. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management (2007) 14, 254–257. doi:10.1057/palgrave. dbm.3250052
Ewan Nettleton Bristows, 3 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3AA, UK Tel: + 44 (0)20 7400 8000; Fax: + 44 (0)20 7400 8050; e-mail: ewan.nettleton@ bristows.com
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INTRODUCTION This paper discusses the recent case of Microsoft Corporation v Paul McDonald4 where Microsoft was awarded damages and an injunction against Mr McDonald who had been selling lists of e-mail addresses intended for sending unsolicited e-mails. This case is thought to be the first comprehensive ruling under the regime introduced by the 2003 EU Directive concerning privacy and electronic communications, and the paper seeks to assess the implications of the ruling and the potential of this regime in regulating unsolicited e-mails concentrating on the UK.
BACKGROUND ON THE LEGISLATION Spammers have traditionally been targeted in the courts using ‘old’ law in place from before the regime introduced by the 2003 Directive. For example, Microsoft and AOL were successful in a case in France in 2005 against an individual on the grounds that the unsolicited bulk e-mails sent from the individual’s Hotmail account breached the terms of use of the MSN Hotmail service and AOL’s internet subscription agreements.5 Turning to the courts is of course not the only method of tackling the problem, and various other initiatives have been
Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management Vol. 14, 3, 254–257 www.palgrave-journals.com/dbm
© 2007 Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 1741-2439 $30.00
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attempted. These include filtration systems that are constantly being improved to allow only valid e-mails through, ‘blacklisting’ and ‘whitelisting’ e-m
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